Helpless: Day 11

Word Count: 66,041

Summary of Events:

The men of Mikolaj's cell argued mostly with the man in the green clothes, who thought they were foolish to eat the food served to them because it was served to them by people he, at least, deemed unjust, while the rest believed eating the food — which was far better than what Mikolaj had been given in the Wojewoda's dungeons — was important, as it would ensure they lived to see their families again; it was by no means the only thing the argued about, as the man in the green clothes didn't believe they hadn't yet been sentenced because of a pursuit of more information to prove whether they were as guilty as they'd been made to look or not . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“You all really think the Wódz Książę would do such a thing?” the man in green challenged. “How can an unholy and impious man be a man of justice? He is a man of injustice, which is proved by the fact that every single one of us is here.”

“Except you,” one of the men said. “You had no need for your victim’s gold and jewels, we all took something we needed.”

“Not that we couldn’t have used gold and jewels to buy things we need,” another man said. “Or if we were goldsmiths we could’ve fashioned it into things to sell to feed our families.”

Several men nodded in agreement.

“You really think that fat old man needed his gold and jewels?” the man in green demanded irritably.

“He probably earned them,” a man said.

The man in green scoffed. “More likely he stole them, whether directly from needy people like you, or by stealing money from you in exorbitant and even unjust charges, which he used to fund his purchase.”

“But what did you need them for?” another man challenged.

“To support those I care about,” the man in green replied.

“But you said you have no family,” the other man contended.

“That doesn’t mean I don’t have people I care about,” the man in green replied. “And they care about me too. In fact, I have full confidence that they will not let the fullness of injustice be meted out upon me, but they will prove to the Wódz Książę, the greedy men of his court, and even such simpletons as yourself the meaning of true justice.”

“If they have those kind of capabilities, what do they need gold and jewels for?” one man asked derisively.

“Although they have been given as many physical and intellectual talents as I myself have been by Bóg, that doesn’t mean that they are any more capable of acquiring the means to feed and clothe themselves without something tangible to exchange for it,” the man in green replied. “We were not born with clothes any more than any of you, nor are we always capable of finding what we wish to eat growing wild.”

“So you use the gold and jewels to gain for yourselves such fineries as the fat man you robbed could enjoy, as opposed to being content with simpler clothing,” a man sneered.

“You ought to be entitled to clothes such as these yourselves, every one of you!” the man in green protested. “But the Wódz Książę and his court hoard so much of the wealth to themselves. They are not so generous and charitable as the Religia would compel them to be, and there are even Ksiądz who are guilty of such excess, for they have been guided too much by the example of their Wódz Książę and too little by the example of their Bóg and Swięty, and that is the cause which I contend, along with those who care about me. We are united by our cause and care for one another in it.”