Purgatory's Shore (Artillerymen # 1)

by Taylor Anderson

Varaa and Burton were both sitting up, as if supporting each other, and Varaa said, “Finish him. You’re giving him what he wants.” Lewis’s mind reeled. “What he wants?” he asked dumbly. “You’ve forgotten already,” Varaa lamented, standing slowly and helping Burton to his feet. “They earn ‘grace’ through pain, and the worse it is, the better. The more ‘exalted’ they’ll be in their perverted afterlife.” “Lord,” Burton murmured. “I understand,” Varaa consoled. “It is hard to grasp. But here you see it before you.” She waved around. “He led these Holcanos against us, at Tranquilo’s command no doubt, utterly indifferent to their fates or even his own—beyond what’s happening now. The failure of the plan and all the suffering it caused is unimportant beside the grace we’re giving him as we speak!” “That’s madness,” Anson said, deeply troubled. “Of course it is!” Varaa actually yelled in frustration. “Yet that’s what we’re fighting, at its heart. A cultural and spiritual madness that promotes evil beyond anything I know on this world!” She glared at Leonor. “Kill him! Put him out of our misery!”