"..... Yes. I was. And I hated it." He says, leaning his head back against the trunk of the tree. He suddenly seems rather tired and worn out. Then, he takes a deep breath before letting the beans spill, after almost twenty years keeping it in...
"I wasn't from your area. I originally lived in a land far, far away from yours. I had a happy, peaceful life. For ten years, we lived in peace and contentment. That is... Until the church of Ecthain came along." His face twitches, a sneer making its way onto his face for a moment before dying away.
"They just... Popped up out of nowhere, knocking on the gates of our town, and asking for shelter for a while. They ended up staying. At first, they were rather harmless, only talking among themselves, and to whoever went there to find out more about their religion. Within a year or two, they came to become the major religion in our town, and... That's when they showed their true face..." He takes a breath before continuing.
"They called us misguided heathens... Pagans of an old, dead god. We worshipped someone else back then..." He murmurs, his hand briefly touching his small pouch before returning to the hilt of his shortsword. "Anyway... My mother and father... They were priests of the old god. Now there was, of course, an uneasy truce between us and them. And it didn't last long. In a grab for power, the leader, Father Otis, commanded that all the heathens must be purged. They... They broke down my door, and dragged my mother, kicking and screaming, out onto the street. They took her to their temple, then proceed to rape her, with each member taking a turn, before they finally skinned her alive, and then burned her body at the stake for the whole town to see." He closes his eyes for a moment.
"My father was out with my little sister, and I had been hiding at home when I saw those Ecthainists coming. That's... How I saw it all. Anyway... My father, he grabbed me from the house, and we immediately fled, taking one of his horses and riding it all the way to a nearby town. There, we got a lodging at an inn... And we settled into an uneasy sleep. I believe I was... What, thirteen or fourteen at the time... And my sister was twelve." He shakes his head, then takes another breath before continuing.
"Early next morning, a strange feeling woke me up, and I could not see my father. But... I heard yelling from the street. I immediately ran to a window and cracked it open, just in time to see these Ecthainists dragging my father away, and a few more... My neighbours, I later realised... Storming into the inn. I immediately grabbed my sister's hand and ran, barely making it to the back door without being seen. We got on the horse, and then we were on the road again... We rode and rode for ages... Two days passed, and we were hungry and thirsty, but I was too scared to stop. I finally did only when my sister began begging and pleading for food. That's when we stopped, ate some berries, and drank our full from a nearby stream before continuing. Sometime later, the horse died from overexertion, and we decided to hoof it. I walked and walked and walked... Carrying my sister when she was too tired to move... And finally collapsing by the side of road." He takes another breath before continuing.
"A merchant from your town happened to be passing by, and picked us up. Then, he took us to a doctor and left us there before continuing on his way. One thing led to another, and my sister and I wound up in an orphanage. I was practically living on the streets then, since the orphanage had no money. I had to keep body and soul together. And that of my sister too. Having no marketable skills, I turned to a life of crime. Stealing, pickpocketing, basically doing whatever I could to get money. Fast forward to around... Nine years down the line. My sister... Was found murdered. And I was blamed, since I happened to be in the area, and... I didn't have an alibi. I was cleared, later, but... It stayed with me. I started doing odd jobs, trying to live up to the last words she ever told me. She wanted me to go straight again... And... That's how I wound up here." He says, bringing the tale to a conclusion.
