Stella then started to see Corvo with other eyes. Not only she felt gratitude towards him for freeing her from the life of a slave. She felt a little something, perhaps admiration, perhaps fear... It was something that would stay with her for the rest of her life and evolve with the flow of their journey.
She gulped once again due to anxiety and build up fear knowing that she will, or at least, hopefully, do something similar one day.
"Come" — Whispered Corvo while cleaning up the blood on his mace — "There's one still alive. I made him faint just for you " — He started to walk towards the fainted goblin. The one who was near a tree. He took his water bottle which was hidden inside his tunica and poured it on the goblin's face. He then muttered in another language (Which was goblinoid, an old tongue talked by the goblins and their relatives) — "Goblin. I have a deal for you. Fight that girl and win, then you may leave. Be killed, and you die. Run, and you die as well"
Little Stella didn't understand a thing of what he said, of course. The goblin? With fear on his eyes, it showed a smile of hope. Corvo gave him a dagger, hidden inside his ropes. The goblin stood up prepared to fight. Stella, confused, looked at the crow mask in search for answers. "Fight it" — Said Corvo — "Fight or die here as nothing but a mere little girl who tried to survive"
The Gobling lashed out to get the surprise attack that would determine it's victory, but Stella, in fear and desperation, turned her back on him and started to run. Corvo slowly followed them, watching the scene with perfect attention.
While Stella ran, the goblin got close enough to jump and grab her by her silky hair and the deer like horns. Stella screamed while she was being thrown onto the floor by the strength and weigh of the goblin. The creature held it's dagger, and just before it intended to stab her on the back, Stella hit it in the face with her elbow. A clean strike on the nose made the goblin bleed and squirm due to pain.
Stella noticed that no matter how heavy and how fast she breathed she was feeling dizzy and tired, so she tried to calm down and understand the situation. She gulped and noticed that she didn't have her dagger on her hands. A quick thought made her think that she probably dropped it when the goblin made her fall. What do I do? She muttered to herself, and Corvo heard her soft words and observed her during the whole moment.
She didn't even understand why the goblin stopped attacking her until she felt a little bruise on her right elbow. There was no time and light to look for the lost dagger, Stella understood. She had one right before her, in the goblin's hands. The goblin stopped complaining seconds after, and after opening it's eyes to look after it's opponent, a sudden attack hit it with ferocious force. Stella rushed with speed, trying to copy Corvo's performance. Using the impulse she gained from the rush, she collisioned her knee on the goblin's face. She put the goblin's face on the floor using her knee and using the other one to put weight on the goblin's body. The goblin dropped the dagger. She showed a smile of satisfaction and hope, grabbed the dagger and, as Corvo, with both hands pointing the sky while holding the dagger as tight as she could, she intended to stab the monster's face with it. But she felt something. A little something was there, stopping it from doing it.
It was guilt. As soon as she heard the goblin's screams and how it was fighting to survive, she understood that it was just as afraid as her. When she was almost drowned by her thoughts and emotions, she felt a warm hand on her head, patting her hair with enthusiasm.
"Never forget this feeling, Stella" — Said Corvo with a calmed voice — "Do it. They may be living beings, just like yourself. They may fear, struggle and try to survive, just like yourself. But in life, there will be moments where you have to make a choice. This one is clear: Kill or be killed"
With tears flowing on her cheeks, Stella nodded, removed her knee of the goblin's face, and stabbed with all her strength.
She could feel in her whole body how the steel of the dagger entered the goblin's skin, penetrated it's skull and how the blood started flowing and tainted her face a little bit. Her shaking hands felt how death reclaimed the creature's life in just a blink of an eye.
She had killed for the first time.
Then, while crying and sobbing, Corvo whispered on her ear: "Welcome to The Crimson Revenants"
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