"And you, Cat," Petrovich appealed to me again, "you can either confess and receive a milder punishment, or find the one responsible for Innokenty"s "murder"."Punishment? Did he really think I would accept it no matter how "mild" it was? I was pretty sure that he understood everything and was just playing to please the two. The law was harsh, but it"s the law, and here, Petrovich was the law. To h.e.l.l with all of this! I just really want to find the killer.
"I hope that these two won"t follow me around the camp," I said, nodding toward my new roommates. Since we were playing games, we needed to discuss the rules.
"No," the leader rea.s.sured me. "They will accompany you if you go outside the base. But in that case, it would be better to ask my permission first."
He emphatically looked me in the eyes, showing that this was not an advice, but an order.
"You are free to go," the lancer said, stare unwavering. "And pay the guy back."
After giving it some thought, I decided to stay in my cave for a while. I doubted that everyone believed that I was a murderer, but there was no end to cynical glances. And no one was in a hurry to talk to me. Well, if no one wanted to talk I didn"t mind being alone. It was even preferable.
I was sitting on the hard couch and trying to find an explanation for what had happened. Could my present supervisors have broken Innokenty"s tombstone themselves? They could have. Although, they didn"t have a motive. This guy hadn"t hurt Sergey, and he and Nikolai had been in the same detachment under Vlada"s leadership. Maybe they had had some sort of conflict before? It was possible, but I didn"t know for sure so I could only guess. Let"s say that Nikolai broke Innokenty"s tombstone… What had Sergey been doing at that time? None of this made sense.
I had replayed a lot of options in my head and concluded that killing Innokenty was more advantageous for me than anybody else. However, if it weren"t for Dasha, n.o.body would"ve shared this opinion. Why was she so mad at me? Was it because I made her pick herbs? That was hardly a heinous crime…
"h.e.l.lo," I heard a quiet voice.
"We"ve met today," I bitterly answered.
Innokenty came in, ignoring my gloomy mood, and sat in front of me.
"Listen, Cat, I understand that we are not the best of friends," he started.
"You bet," I admitted, "it is difficult to be friends with someone who cut off your hands."
Ironically, Innokenty smiled.
"I scolded Dasha," he said. "She feels sorry about what happened... Well, at least that"s what she said."
"I see you that the two of you are getting along nicely," I muttered to myself but loud enough for him to hear.
"She"s a good person," he answered.
"What do you want from me?" I looked at Innokenty without hiding my annoyance.
"You know, I will live until the first serious battle," he frowned. "So I decided that you and I should at least be in a neutral relationship."
"Are you scared?" I asked for some reason.
"I am," Innokenty admitted. "But I wanted to talk like normal people do. And... Petrovich said that you would give me my stats back." Innokenty took the amulet out of his pocket and showed it to me.
I nodded and let out a sigh. A pity. But I hoped that I would get more one day.
"Go away," I said tiredly once we finished the transfer. "By the way, who do you think might have "killed" you? Well, except for me, of course..."
"I don"t know," Innokenty shrugged. "Not everyone in my detachment liked me. But to this degree..." he waved his hand and hurriedly left my room.
I was left alone with my thoughts and suspicions. And then an idea crossed my mind. Maybe I could use my new ability? My freedom of movement and action was at stake, and, perhaps in the long run, even my life. Wasn"t this the perfect situation to use the ability that I had gotten from the old man in the cave?
I got up and determinately headed toward the exit. I knew that Search for the Truth was a dangerous thing and that I would have to explain the rules of the game to anyone I would like to talk to, and that my interlocutor would be able to make me say the truth. I had secrets that couldn"t be shared. I need to think this through. I can"t afford making a mistake. I wanted to talk to the archer first as I was concerned about her unexpected aggression. I hoped that she hadn"t gone somewhere into the forest.
Fortunately, I was able to find her and persuade her to talk, although she tried to escape at first and expressed sincere unwillingness to answer my questions.
"Dasha, I didn"t break Innokenty"s tombstone!" I said, tightly gripping her hand and looking straight into her eyes. "If you want to know who did this, help me."
"All right," she gloomily said. "Just let me go."
"Fine," I said, loosening the grip. She immediately s.n.a.t.c.hed her hand away. "Why did you blame me in the first place?"
Having given it some thought, I decided not to tell her the details of my geas hoping that I would be able to extract information that I needed without using Search for the Truth. Girls were willing to talk when they wanted to do so.
"Because you can"t stand him, and I like him," Dasha said. Why do I feel like I"m being lied to?
"It makes sense," I said, "but that"s not enough."
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"It makes sense because then you wouldn"t need to give him back his stat points," she added.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious," I said. "But why did you accuse me so aggressively and in front of everyone?"
"Because I am tired of gathering those d.a.m.ned herbs for you," she answered after a while and dropped her gaze.
I still don"t believe you. Judging by her averted gaze, she was hiding something. I understood being naively in love… But being willing to throw someone under the bus to avoid working was just ridiculous.