Chapter 50 - 48: Kadi’s Doubt
Sol’s story gave Igor some insight into why he had been bound. Although, fundamentally, he was not an enemy of the Sol family, his relationship with the lightning-infused stone was indeed complicated. Albeit unjustly caught up in this situation, the thought of being able to assist this pitiful ancient hunter brought Igor a measure of solace, making him feel that the world was somewhat fair after all.
"I regret what happened to you," Igor said sincerely. "I hope you will be reunited with your brother soon."
"Thanks," Stan Sol answered tersely, remaining hidden beneath his purple robe, only his shining eyes visible.
"I don’t understand," Kadi, who had been silent for a while, suddenly exclaimed. "There are many parts of your story that don’t make sense!"
"Er..." The look Igor gave Kadi was filled with sympathy. This confirmed his earlier suspicion that the unfortunate one-eyed man had utterly failed to grasp the intricacies of the tale.
"Shouldn’t you have gone to find Rostov? Why did you come here, to Guru Mountain?"
"I, need, leverage," Stan said, surprisingly patient with this creature.
"Leverage?"
"He means he can’t just go see Rostov directly. Meeting Rostov requires certain conditions," Igor patiently explained to Kadi. Besides sympathy, he also felt a twinge of guilt. Though it wasn’t his fault Kadi was embroiled in this messy affair, he couldn’t dismiss the possibility that his own misfortune was contagious.
"But why would Rostov want to kill your family? There’s no reason! Your brother was helping him. Why would people who help each other try to kill one another?"
"Leverage. Control. Leverage," Stan replied, his answers always brief.
This time, Kadi learned his lesson and turned to Igor. Stan’s short, halting answers did little to clear his confusion; only Igor’s careful interpretations could help him grasp the subtleties.