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“I thought the king was supposed to protect everyone?”
“He does the bare minimum to keep the order, but he only protects his interests. We must rely on ourselves when it comes to raids. The groups who cannot fight pay us with food. They hunt and bring us meat, or they give us their weak, dying, and old.”
That’s a big supersized can-o-horrible. “What lovely neighbors. A shame I don’t have such generous people in my neck of the woods.” Nothing like an elderly person to snack on.
“But don’t you? Do you not obtain chickens, cows, pigs from your neighbors?”
“Yes, but they don’t bring me members of their own family to eat.”
“We are all family, born from the same spark of life. And your kind’s lack of understanding is why you are simpletons, failing at your endeavor to evolve.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, pushing back on that, “but your world is centered around killing and eating each other, even during times of peace. I think humans are evolving just fine.”
“We kill to survive, while humans seek to control their land, the creatures on it, and each other. You make vows and then break them. You permit your rulers to break them. Without consequence, I might add. Then you look the other way when groups within your own kingdoms fall victim to your rulers. Yet you say nothing, do nothing. Some even cheer them on. All because you do not see yourselves as part of something greater. All life is one, Lake. All life has purpose. If you kill off another kingdom, you are killing yourself. If you allow your leaders to break vows, no matter to whom, you are fostering a society filled with decay. It will eat itself alive.”
I know when Alwar says the word vow, he means law. Just like the Proxy Vow is really a complex treaty. I think I’m finally understanding why they place so much importance on sticking to them. They see their laws as part of maintaining fairness for themselves and, therefore, for all life. I suppose the good part about it is that they don’t take promises lightly. They put their lives up as collateral to keep their vows. The downside is that not all vows are made by the individual. Some were made by ancestral leaders.
I’m not sure I’d be okay with being devoured alive by a No One for breaking a promise made by someone who died hundreds or even thousands of years ago.
On the other hand, most countries have laws and constitutions. Mine does. And I sure as hell didn’t agree to them, but I do live by them. For example, I can’t go around killing people just because they piss me off. Our laws even include the right to select proxies to fight our battles. Only, we call them legislators, and they don’t fight to the death.
Funny. I’m a proxy. Does this make me a Monsterland senator?
He adds, “In the end, our worlds have one thing in common: we all die. But for your kind, there is no honor to your deaths because there is no honor in the lives you lead. If that were not true, you would agree that your final act, death, must have meaning. And there is great honor in nourishing another life, especially if one has become a burden.”
That was a very complicated and strange philosophical lecture. When I’m shipshape again, I’ll replay it, because I’m pretty sure he didn’t mean we should all turn into cannibals. “Alwar, I hear you, but I need to know if you’re telling me all this for another reason?”
“Such as?”
“I overheard you saying that Gabrio is breaking a vow by getting me food.” Which means he’s breaking the law. A death sentence.
“It is part of the agreement with the Norfolks. They proxy for us. We vowed to guard the wall, but never to cross it. So as long as the wall remains intact and in need of defense, we cannot go to your world. Not without consequence.”
“Why guard it, then? Why not knock the wall down and take the human world for yourselves?”
“I already told you, Lake. I believe in vows. I believe in keeping them even if the No Ones did not exist, unlike the Blood King, who seeks out loopholes and wishes to destroy everything for his own gain. He would rather burn down our entire world than uphold a vow that doesn’t suit him. He does not care about the kingdoms of monsters or our rich histories. He does not see that even the kindest of creatures have a purpose.”
I stare for a moment, puzzling that one out. “Oh. I get it. Because the kind ones are gross.”
“What else would they be?”
“Never mind.” I’m not about to turn this warlord into a peace-loving nurturer.
“Lake, I know Benicio has poisoned you. You are not the first. But please remember, he only cares about control. And anyone he cannot control dies. He is also the master of circumventing his vows, which is why I believe he has a plan to attack the War People with or without your death. He will find a way to get what he wants.”
