All hints of playfulness disappeared from her voice. “Is he sane?”

“My guess is no.”

“Help me wake everyone so that way we can decide what to do.”

I enjoyed shaking bird boy out of the tree. He woke before hitting the ground and caught himself with a sweep of his wings. He began berating me shouting that it is a crime and an offense and blah blah blah. Lust jumped down from the tree as Wrath followed swiftly in her young girl form. Apparently Lust had already whispered to Wrath last night what had happened so only Envy and Pride didn’t know. They were filled in quickly with all the details we could remember.

A vote was arranged. Envy and Pride thought that death would free him from his pain. Lust and Wrath thought that we could try and free him. Which left me staring at a tree trunk to decide the fate of one of the few people that were like us. I then asked the question that was plaguing me.

“If the king couldn’t kill him how could we?”

Envy looked wracked with nervousness, her hands wringing together. “They couldn’t kill him because even if you cut off his head it regrows. You are probably the only person who could kill him in this group”.

So I was the judge and executioner in this forest court. I needed to see him again to decide. I made another choice as well. If we could save him then we would. I told Envy my decision and she gave out marching orders. Pride took off like usual in a gust of wind. Even he seemed disturbed by Gluttony’s fate. It could have been any of us if we were less “useful”.

They had probably tried to replace me. They had interrogated me about my past. I hadn’t wanted to share any of it. I remember clinging to it. It was almost the only thing I had left. There is a rune for pain. It felt like your blood had become tiny hedgehogs shredding with each heartbeat. I told them about the Stranger, about everything, even when I had stolen some bread from the neighbors. They didn’t believe me at first but after some hours realized I couldn’t lie anymore. They couldn’t find the old man anymore than I could. Before I was captured that was all I was doing. They then turned me over to Teacher to make me “useful”.

I should probably stop thinking while walking. I learned that lesson by getting three tree branches to the face. The books I read always had characters traipsing through the woods deep in thought or in full armor. I was having a harder time during the day than I did last night. The bag on my back kept getting caught on low hanging branches. There was a type of plant that stuck to the fabric of the pants and left nasty little balls of spikes that dug into the boots I was wearing; I dubbed it the bastard plant. Luck seemed to enjoy throwing little gnats in my way.

The moans were distinct as the group got closer. Pain was in the air, so to speak. We reached the clearing not long after I ate some more branches. He hadn’t moved which was of little surprise. What was surprising was a horned thing taking huge chunks of flesh from his side. It looked like a sick joke of a deer. Why someone thought a giant carnivorous deer was a good idea. Mind you, coming from the people that capture and train kids for combat, the deer seemed mild. A doe was also tearing into our friend in a frenzy. He had fallen down and was whimpering. Two little fauns watched from the side. It was a beautiful family scene.

Then, Wrath stepped on a twig. It was Luck’s famous backstabbery. The buck sprinted at us, teeth bared blood pouring from its mouth. If I didn’t already have nightmares, I probably would have gotten them right then and there. It’s eyes were yellow and fleeting. It crashed into a tree next to Envy. The doe was running away leaving two brown spots on the ground. We investigated and found the two newborn fauns. It looked like this Lizeer had twins at once. Lizeer was the name I gave the creatures. Wrath scooped them up and nuzzled them against her chest.

Distraction dealt with, I looked at Gluttony, who was healing the gaping holes in his side. I asked Envy, who seemed a bit stupefied, “Can you try to talk to him?” She nodded and metamorphosed into a plant-like ent creature. It looked painful. The fingers expanded and stretched and the skin became browner and folded the long black hair into green twining moss. Her torso grew longer till she was seven feet. Her legs thickened and became stocky. I’m guessing she did that to avoid getting attacked and to get close enough to talk. It was hard to knock over a seven foot tall tree ent. I sincerely hoped they didn’t exist in real life. I looked nervously at the trees. Maybe those branches that hit me were there on purpose. Suddenly the forest became more ominous which was surprising considering it had carnivorous deer.

Delards? Lizder? Lizeer seemed right. Envy was shrinking and shaking her head. Once she was back to normal size she whispered to the group.

“He’s insane. He was frothing at the mouth and biting the ground. Between the pain and hunger the Gluttony we knew is already dead. So you know, do your thing”.

I was appalled. I couldn’t do it with people watching. It would be disrespectful. I also thought that the murder of one of us should merit more thought. “Are you sure?” I asked. Just from the posture of Envy’s hands I could tell she was. I looked at Lust's torso but no note came forbidding the actions I was about to take. Even Luck sat silently not sending giant rocks or a troll to interrupt me.

I then marched to do my duty. He would have done the same for me or so I hoped. I waited in the clearing and clapped shattering the silence around me into splinters that dug into my heart. It was a kindness, I thought. He looked at where the noise came from and saw me and my eyes. His eyes were blue like the sky above and just as lifeless. His bloated body fell to the earth with a crash, like a tree chopped. He fell silent for the last time, his head resting upwards facing the sky.

We didn’t have time to bury him either. We fled the scene of the murder. Envy seems subdued. Wrath kept feeding the two Lizeer. We couldn’t get rid of them because she would get angry. I was angry that those beasts had pieces of Gluttony inside them. I was angry that the world was unfair. I… I killed one of the few people whose faces I knew.