I'm trying to remember a fantasy novel in which a soldier is part of a
force tasked with killing every inhabitant of a settlement. He finds a
young girl, who knows what he's about and is terrified. She knows that
there's no escape. Trembling, she asks him what she's supposed to do.

He gently tells her something like, "Just hold up your hair, and face
away from me. I'm going to hit you on the back of your head with the
pommel of my sword. You'll hardly feel it; it'll be just like going to
sleep."

And she does what he told her, and there's a scene change. We don't
see the moment of the murder, but it's clearly implied, and there's no
reason to think that events didn't play out as the soldier had stated.
It was a chilling bit of writing.

Can anyone please ID this for me? Thanks.

Joel

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On 9/15/2022 12:51 PM, Joel Polowin wrote:
> I'm trying to remember a fantasy novel in which a soldier is part of a
> force tasked with killing every inhabitant of a settlement.  He finds a
> young girl, who knows what he's about and is terrified.  She knows that
> there's no escape.  Trembling, she asks him what she's supposed to do.
>
> He gently tells her something like, "Just hold up your hair, and face
> away from me.  I'm going to hit you on the back of your head with the
> pommel of my sword.  You'll hardly feel it; it'll be just like going to
> sleep."
>
> And she does what he told her, and there's a scene change.  We don't
> see the moment of the murder, but it's clearly implied, and there's no
> reason to think that events didn't play out as the soldier had stated.
> It was a chilling bit of writing.
>
> Can anyone please ID this for me?  Thanks.
>
> Joel

I hate snuff scenes in book.

Lynn