Shortly after Ca’armine and Alexis finish discussing the words of Ness Brightleaf, or at least the river of souls and the soul of Zrithak that refused to sleep, Rask approaches Ca’armine, head bowed penitently.

“Ca’armine, I did not wish to respond and further distance us from Alexis’ inquiry, but I do want to respond to your questions.”

“I am no longer curious about Zrithak. Yes, his malice was evident from the moment we laid eyes on him. I suspected something was… unique about the wretch, and I hope the Blade of the Betrayers would capture his soul. I see how misguided and dangerous that was now.”

Rask pauses to see if Ca’armine has any thoughts or questions. He clearly has second point to make though and does not wait long.

“I was also called the Black Blade Ca’armine. Malice isn’t strange or scary to me like it should be I guess… Ursil gave me the sword when he was still King Adelfrid’s First General. He called it the Blade of the Betrayers…”

Rask clearly has mixed and troubling emotions around Ursil and Rasks own journey away from King Adelfrid’s forces as he takes a breath.

“I trust you Ca’armine, I cannot begin to express to you how grateful I am for you ridding me of Zrithak. What I thought would be a strange interrogation turned into a horrible… I wasn’t fully in control of myself Ca’armine, it was the worst thing I’ve ever experienced.”

Rask pauses and takes a deep breath.

“The Blade of the Betrayers was made by elves to reap souls. It holds many souls, all reduced to a black screaming rage. I never heard them before I took Zrithak’s soul with the sword. Not in anyway I can point to at least. To be honest, I also hoped to learn more about the sword from… well yeah… Now, without the sword, I don’t feel as full of rage. I am not the Black Blade of Aegir anymore, and I don’t want to be that ever again.”

Rask looks down briefly.

“But Ca’arm… I was angry and bitter before I was given the Blade. And I’m still angry. I’m still bitter. I still want to make everyone who was part of Thater being destroyed pay…”

Rask looks Ca’armine in the eyes, sad but resigned.

“And I am still a killer. The Blade was given to me as an award after my hundredth confirmed kill. I have no idea how many men I’ve killed since…. The Blade strengthened my rage as much as it strengthened my sword arm, but it did not… possess me the same way Zrithak did.”

“It is dangerous, and needs to be dealt with. I trust to you to decide how best it should be dealt with, but I want to you to understand that without Zrithak, it did not have a will of it’s own that I ever felt.”

Rask takes a deep apprehensive breath, glances down for a moment and back to the Priest.