[ WP ] `` Do you still think about what you did ? ''

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 He turned and paused to glance at her, his green-gray eyes scanning her up and down. He always did that, Faith realized, no matter the person. It was as if he were a starving wolf in winter, hungry and wary against all signs of danger. He had a lean, cold air about him, like a coming thunderstorm or blizzard. His green cloak was stained by mud and frayed by the careless whisk of many a mountain breeze. He had a rifle slung over his shoulder, its barrel and buttstock wrapped in worn hessian burlap. 
 
 `` Think about what?'' Hilary Flint asked, his voice flat, and slightly nasally in the accent typical of those from the lands around the Inner Seas. Faith shrugged. 
 
 `` They say you massacred three hundred Regulars at the Battle of Fort Velienieau after they had surrendered. Is it true?'' 
 
 `` Of sorts,'' admitted Flint, easing himself down against a fallen log to take a drink of water. `` I shot them, yes. But only after one of those surrendering Regulars killed my Lieutenant with a knife hidden in his boot. I killed that murdering bastard myself, spilled his guts out onto the ice and slush of the parade ground with my sword. For his perfidy I had no choice but kill his comrades.'' 
 
 `` For the crimes of one, you punished hundreds? What kind of justice is that?'' asked Faith. 
 
 `` You seem to be under the illusion that war can be just,'' snapped Flint. `` There's nothing just about it, it's dirty and poisonous, corrupts every it touches. There were fifty of us Rangers. Fifty to watch over three hundred. There was no way we could've looked after six times our number, even with automatic weapons. We had no food, were four weeks from the nearest outpost. It was almost a favor that that fucker killed my officer; saved us the trouble of having to march them a hundred and eighty miles across mountain and rivers. 
 
 `` This is n't some noble tournament or chivalrous battle: this is war. People die, Faith. And it does n't matter how they die be it from bullets, blades, or bombs. If you think I have trouble sleeping at night because of what I've done, you're dead wrong. It's only because of what I've done that I'm able to sleep at night.''
