Chương 20: JUDAS

T'balt and Ellie stayed the night at the abandoned home. They didn't know if they were being looked for or if their exit had surmounted any chaos at the church. They were able to forget all of that, resting in the comfort of each other's arms. As blissful as a dream, one not allowing the other to close their eyes, fear lingering that when they woke up, they wouldn't be able to experience this again. It had been hours. Mostly silent.

Staring at the ceiling fan, this time comfortable in the closeness and unrelenting in their affections. It was like nothing T'balt had ever experienced with Chosa. There was always that thing missing. Now he could fully realize that there was a deep-rooted distance between them. He didn't know her, and she never cared for him. He could see that now, only after being with someone who truly felt him in their embrace.

"What's the matter?" she said, teasing his skin with the gentle kiss of her finger.

"I… You didn't sleep with me... Just because I'm a Redeemer or anything. Did you?" He always had a habit of asking the wrong thing at the wrong time. But it didn't seem to kill her mood.

"No. I think I just needed the stress release. Being the pure and dainty churchwoman is a tough act to keep up all the time." She laughed.

"Sometimes I just want to play Juliet with a nice Romeo." He put his hands over his face, realizing she was teasing him for his name.

"Romeo kills Tybalt."

"Yeah. Well, that's because he's the least cool guy in the entire play."

"Wow. Thanks, Ellie," he teased back, hitting her with a pillow. He remembered reading about the young, hot-headed Tybalt Capulet. Juliet's cousin. A character that existed to personify the tensions between the two families. In order to challenge Romeo, he killed his friend, and Romeo killed him in revenge. They didn't sing songs about Tybalt. They heard a knock at the door. Two carefully measured beats. At first, T'balt thought it was just the wind. But Ellie was the one to get up in response.

She started throwing on her clothes almost like she was late for school. T'balt started throwing his on right behind, preparing for things to go sideways.

"Is it someone from the church?"

"Yes."

"Then we should run. We can escape out the back door."

"No. It's okay. I'm expecting them. I just don't want them to see…" She was picking now to play the modest princess. The pure, dainty churchwoman was really an act after all.

"Then who is it?" She grabbed some clothes from the closet that seemed to fit her too well. A basic sweater and jeans. Both of their clothes were still wet and dirty from the day before, and neither had thought to wash them. For T'balt, he had to settle for an oversized black shirt and baggy cargo pants. Once they were both ready, Ellie went to answer the door. T'balt had his hand twitching, loot half-activated. When she opened it, Arthur Kilgrove stood ready at attention.

"Ellie." He went in to hug her, and she received him gladly.

"I'm glad you're safe."

"Me too. Thanks for coming to meet us."

"Ah... you must be T'balt. I don't think we've been properly introduced." The aged man shook T'balt's hand with a firm grip.

"I've heard a lot about you."

"Uhh, sure." T'balt suddenly felt like he was meeting the girl's father. He didn't really know how to respond or why the Abbot was even here.

"How are things?" Ellie asked.

"More or less the same," the abbot said, making himself at home.

"Monan's beside himself that T'balt had escaped. He goes through fits of intense rage and complete apathy. But… the rest of us are managing. He knows it was you who broke him out. I doubt it would be safe for you to come around the church anymore."

"Arthur… Don't you realize how ridiculous that sounds?" Ellie started to plead.

"It's unsafe for me to go around my own church. My home." The abbot was calm in his delivery, almost too much so.

"Yes. But this is the bed you've made, isn't it?"

"It's what I had to do… For the sake of the believers."

"For the… No. Your actions only brought more danger upon them. You've enraged him, and the rest of them will suffer." The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Ellie dropped her head.

"But I… T'balt can stop him. I know he can."

"Stop with the farce. It's okay. I understand perfectly well why you did it." He surveyed T'balt, who stood by, still trying to fit himself into this conversation.

"Ellie. You have a good heart. But that is not what is required for this situation. We must all do what we must to survive… You understand?"

"But we're not surviving anymore, are we?" T'balt interrupted.

"What?" They both looked at him.

"Many of the believers are dead. And it sounds like that isn't going to stop. Not with Monan there. You can't keep going on like this. It's only a matter of time before the rest of you get killed, too."

"And what would you have me do? It is still far safer there than anywhere outside. Even now, I had to sneak by a horde of beasts just to make it here. Without him, we are no better than the beasts. The people would have no hope. Despite it all, they still believe that Monan is the prophet."

"But you don't?"

"Belief is a troubling word to me these days."

"Abbot…" Ellie put a hand on his.

"It pains me to hear you say things like that. You were the one who made me a believer in the first place. Don't you see that him being here is only tearing us apart?" Kilgrove refused to answer, which caused even more pain for Ellie. She could hardly bring herself to heel. Knowing that her actions brought harm to the others was almost too much to bear. She was sure she was doing the right thing. That this was the only way. She had put that faith in T'balt, and he didn't want to disappoint her.

"What if.. We can replace him… with someone else."

"T'balt?" Ellie was fixed on him.

"Look," He turned around, pointing at the Redeemer loot on his neck.

"I'm the exact same as Monan. If we can convince the believers that…"

"The same… You think we would want more of the same?"

"Abbot. That isn't what he means." Ellie interrupted.

"He has the same power that lets Monan… know so much."

"So you can perform the same miracles as him?" Kilgrove was dead set on seeing T'balt's reaction, feeling it as that sense of hope he might need. But the answer was more complicated. The reason Monan could perform miracles was that he had seen all this before. This was T'Balt's first time. So his knowledge of the future was only educated by what he learned from Monan. And Monan did not share the timeline of events with him. Ellie stepped in front of him. She had put the pieces together last night.

For T'balt to know what Monan had known, she knew what he would have to do. The blood still dried on the kitchen floor.

"He can," she said anyway, drawing both of the men's surprise.

"Trust me, Arthur. T'balt is our true savior." Arthur thought to himself for a long time, leaving them in sustained silence. What could he do? Whatever he decided would determine the immediate lives of him and his entire congregation. His family. And there was no telling what kind of Redeemer T'balt would be. He could turn out to be the same dog on a new leash. But he didn't sense the same malice as he did on Monan. And his limited knowledge might've been preferable. With that, there was really only one choice.

"Fine," he said. And then the three of them together started to plot for Monan's downfall.

"Then, as much as it pains me to say, we have to face him," Kilgrove said. T'balt jumped in.

"No matter what, we can't let him die. Then he could just do the same thing again." Arthur feigned understanding.

"I can't say that I have the ability to worry about the next life, but I'll trust what you say. So how do we remove him?"

"A fight runs the same risk. Plus… From what you guys told me, he's packing some powerful loot, and all I've got is the speed loot."

"He's got psychic, the flame sword, and reflex." Ellie pointed out.

"I don't think we can take him head-on, even if we tried."

"Well, it's not like we can just ask him to leave." It was Arthur who had an answer.

"There is a special sleeping agent that we keep in the church. If we put him to sleep and subdue him that way, would that work?" he asked.

"Sleeping agent?"

"You mean that stuff you use for the hypnosis sessions?" Ellie asked. T'balt veered at them both, unsure of how to respond to a church's hypnosis sessions.

"It's not a very orthodox kind of church," Arthur answered without the question being asked.

"Well, I think that might work. How would we get him to take it?"

"The wine…" Ellie posed.

"Perhaps," the abbot replied.

"But we'd hardly have a chance to sneak into his room. It's where he keeps the alcohol. He… or one of his women is always there."

"But what about the bottle for communion?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Just the idea itself feels like blasphemy."

"It is… But as you said, we do what we have to…" Ellie said. With that, the plan was decided. Tomorrow evening, they would effectively poison Monan during the Abbot's sermon. He always held a chalice during the group's communion, where he had his own drink. Then they'd tie him when he was asleep, force him in the same helpless position that he put T'balt in. Of course, it was a strange form of poetic justice.

T'balt couldn't wait for that modicum of revenge for the hell of his last week, but to use a religious ceremony to do so. T'balt wasn't religious, but he still felt like he should be punished for the idea. Even though it wasn't his. He and Ellie wouldn't show their face to the church. So the dirt work would be left to the Abbot. But they would be on standby in case he was discovered, ready to jump in and catch Monan off guard if need be"It'll be okay," Ellie said.

"Everything ends tomorrow." All it took was the brief touch of her hand to make all his misgivings go away. As they saw the abbot, T'balt hid his unease. After everything, he was still afraid of Monan. He didn't understand it. Every time he saw him, he was nothing but a drunk on alcohol and power. But it had felt like he had taken everything from here, and there was so much more he could take. He squeezed Ellie's hand.

"You're right." And he kissed her. They made love again that night, leaving tomorrow's problems for tomorrow. But like all omens, no amount of ignorance could stop it from coming.