Or as if he'd been pushed past anger and hurt into numbness. It was as if my angry words had never been spoken. I felt no hostility from him, no animosity. He sat on it and began taking his boots off. And they told Chivalry I'd knocked two men out and held off five others with a stave until the Guard came to tip the odds their way. My sergeant was disgusted, I'd made no friends among the common soldiers. By then my fellow guards wanted nothing more to do with me. The City Guard hauled me before him, still bloody, still drunk, still wanting to fight. "The third time they dragged me in, it was for brawling in a tavern. He went on again at last, almost unwillingly. I heard him shoulder deeper into his bed. So I went for a soldier."īurrich cleared his throat again. About a hand of years later, the blood plague went through Chalced. I made my mother and grandmother's life a bit better with my new trade, though they never suspected what I did. In a sense, I transferred my bond to her. "My grandmother forced me to survive Slash's death. "I learned to talk," he said after a bit. I heard him making up his bed and lying down on it. The gray one has words with Heart of the Pack. Why soldier for no pay and extra duties?" He docked my pay and gave me more duties. He cocked his head as a dog will when it hears something far off. I stood before him, ready to hate him, and he just looked at me. Everyone expected Chivalry to discharge me the second time. what we might have been in different circumstances. And something like recognition passed between us. I stood there before him and I met his eyes. Almost all his troops were older than I I had expected to confront a middle-aged man. "The first time I was hauled before the Prince, bloody and struggling still, I was shocked to see we were of an age. He said he feared more to stay, feared he could not keep his resolve with you. He was stealing a slab of bacon at the time." He got up from his chair, and went to his blankets. I suppose I was about eight when he ran between a horse and its cart and was kicked to death. She tried to drive the dog away, but like you, I had a will of my own in those matters. My grandmother, I am sure, had her suspicions. Taking what you wanted, when you wanted it, and not worrying past getting it. His only value was survival, his only loyalty to me. "So I bonded, very young, to the only strong male in my world who was interested in me. The dwindling light of the fire made a shadowy landscape of his face. "Right on target." The sound he made might have been a laugh, if not so freighted with bitterness. I spoke carefully, fearing to break the spell of calm. "It's too dark for him to be walking," I said to the flames. Grizzle's troops were gentlemen compared with the dregs that soldiered for Jecto, but I still preferred the company of horses to theirs. Somehow I ended up taking care of my troop's horses. I went to the Six Duchies, where there are no slaves, nor slavers. When I escaped, I did what she had always dreamed of doing. I spent several months, no, almost a year, learning my grandmother's hatred of slavers. It was my only key to survival amongst the kind of men I soldiered with then. No one expects a boy to fight with a beast's ferocity and guile. Not knowing or caring why we fought, if there was any right or wrong to it." He snorted softly. "I first fought for some petty land chief in Chalced. Like a dog, or a stallion, I thought it was the only way to establish position with the others. In the first month I was with Chivalry, I was up before him for discipline twice. I didn't meet their standards as a man, let alone as a soldier. I had run out of money and been painfully sober for three days. These were crack troops, his personal guard. I don't know why his sergeant took me on. He'd come to Rippon to settle a boundary dispute between Shoaks and Rippon duchies. Eventually, to become a soldier again, this time for a young prince named Chivalry. Besides, there were scarcely enough animals left in that stable to warrant calling it such. Keeping them alive kept me from killing myself. Neko died, just a day after he started to sicken. "Some kind of horse plague went through that man's stables. Up the coast, to Rippon." He cleared his throat. "Duke Grizzle sold Neko and six mares, and I went with them.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |