Ebudae (44 page)

The man gave one very slow nod and gripped
his sword. Frath gulped nervously. Even in such a crippled form,
the man might be able to kill him, such was his reputation. The
sword was named Lifedrinker, cursed with deadly magic and rumored
to be intelligent. That was a very bad combination.

Distra’s voice slithered throughout the
church once more. “Leave him alone.”

Frath didn’t know which one of them she was
talking to, but got the impression that it might be both. “Right .
. .” Realization dawned. “Tathan of the Shadows. Hey! That makes
more sense. Distra is the Goddess of Shadows . . . and Sorrow . . .
and a bunch of other stuff, including generally lousy feelings. I
tend to have those a lot, so it works for me.”

He realized that he was the only one having
a conversation. Tathan was staring at him warily. Distra had gone
back to being a statue.

“Fine, fine. “ Frath grabbed a slice of
bread and some cheese out of the bag. “So they rescued these slaves
and that’s when things really started to go bad.”

For a long while, he told the story. The
only thing he left out was the part about Rojuun. He wasn’t sure
how to feel about them and wasn’t comfortable discussing it in
front of Tathan.

“I don’t know how to feel about Ebudae.
There’s much more to her than meets the eye. What I
do
know
is that she’s Pelya’s best friend and that she doesn’t have any
family around other than me and Pelya.” Frath ran his hands over
his face. “When I called her daughter, both of them hugged me like
I was the greatest guy in the world.” He shrugged. “So Ebudae’s my
daughter now and I’ll be there if she needs me.”

Tathan lifted the wineskin in approval and
took another sip.

“The girls are back at the manor. Ebudae
used a lot of magic, so she’s sleeping a wizard’s sleep and has
been since I carried her back yesterday.” Frath took a swig from
the wineskin when Tathan offered it. “Pelya’s exhausted, so she’s
been sleeping too. I need to get back there soon. She’s going to
need to talk. It’s the first time she killed anyone and it was hard
on her.”

Tathan nodded sadly. Frath had no idea why,
but he was talking mostly to Distra, so it didn’t really
matter.

“She doesn’t like killing.” He rubbed his
face again. “She
hates
killing. I could see it in her eyes
and posture. She also told me, but I’ve heard people say it
before.” Frath handed the wineskin back. Tathan was taking small
sips, but he looked tipsy. “Pelya truly meant that she hated it. I
think she’d be happy if she never killed anyone again.”

Tathan frowned.

“Yeah, it’s going to be a problem if she
joins the City Guard. This is Dralin and killing people is part of
the job. There’s just too much evil and risk in this city to avoid
it.”

Tathan nodded sadly again.

Frath was beginning to enjoy the
conversation with Tathan. The man didn’t seem too bad considering
he was a master thief with countless killings attributed to his
name. “The good news is that there was more than enough evidence in
the Blavoci estate to shut down the entire operation. It’s going to
cost him a lot of money.”

Tathan almost smiled, but caught it before
it happened.

“Yeah. You’re right. It’s good to see
corrupt slimeballs brought before justice.” Frath leaned back and
rested his arms over the back of the pew. “The operation freed over
four hundred slaves who will be sent back to their home countries
or given a chance to survive here. It’s not the best, but it’s
better than life as a slave in this cursed city.”

Tathan nodded.

“Master Thanzin is in jail. He won’t survive
long. If the courts don’t sentence him to death, I’ll make certain
he gets dead.” Frath turned his head and looked straight into
Tathan’s eyes. “Nobody is allowed to harm or even threaten harm to
my daughters.” Tears began to flow from Frath’s eyes and his jaw
clenched in uncontrollable anger. “They’re all I care about in the
world. I’ll kill anyone and I’ll keep killing them over and over if
they hurt my Pelya.” His voice lost all of his volume as the
muscles in his neck clenched. “I’ll kill them. They can’t hurt my
Pelya. Thanzin’s going to die and he’s going to scream in terror as
he dies. I’ll make certain of it.”

Tathan said nothing. It was probably for the
best. Frath was obviously a very disturbed man.

It took a minute to regain control. Frath
wiped away the tears with the sleeve of his clean tunic. Bava had
brought it to him the night before and had lain with him to give
comfort. “Life is hard. You probably know that . . .”

Tathan nodded sadly yet again. He was very
good at it, almost as good as the shadows in the church.

“All my life I’ve seen suffering.”

Another sad nod.

“Yeah. It’s hard to see everyone suffer. I
haven’t had the best life, but it’s better than most. I see so many
young people being hurt in terrible ways.” Frath leaned forward
with elbows on knees and hands folded together. “Sometimes I have
nightmares that Pelya or Ebudae is one of those girls lying in an
alley or in the basement of a brothel. It’s just too hard . .
.”

Tathan sat quietly with him, saying nothing
either out of respect or because it would hurt too much. Either
way, it was nice to have a friend at the moment.

“Listen. I’ve got to get back.” Frath stood.
“Thanks for listening. I also want you to know that I’m serious
about the fact that you owe me. One of these days, I’m going to ask
you for a favor and you’re going to do what I need. Got it?”

Tathan stared at him for a moment before
nodding once.

“Good. I’ll be back every now and then with
some more food. If you decide you need healing, let me know and
I’ll take you to someone.” Frath studied him for a moment. “You’ve
got a real bad reputation. I’m in the Dralin City Guard and I take
my job seriously. Try to stay out of trouble. I don’t want to
arrest you.”

Another nod.

“Alright. Time for me to go.” He turned to
the statue. “I’ll see you later, Distra. Thanks for . . . I don’t
know what. Everything I suppose.”

The shadows danced sadly as he walked down
the aisle and exited the church.

***

Pelya ran fingers through Ebudae’s silken
hair, clean and still damp after the bath she had taken. Moonlight
coming through the open windows and a few candles with yellow-green
flames illuminated the room. Ebudae was asleep in her lap after
having a second large meal of the day, the first being from that
morning.

Upon arriving back at the manor the day
before, unconscious Ebudae had been placed in bed by Frath. Pelya
had taken a bath immediately to get the blood off before she too
went to sleep wearing her favorite dark-blue nightgown. At first,
sleep had been heavy, but then nightmares began.

The vision of the men dying flashed across
her mind again causing tears to rush up to her eyes in the hopes of
escaping their prison. She suppressed them again, determined not to
cry over their deaths. The men she killed worked for corrupt men
who trafficked humans. The tears were not being obedient.

“Pelya?” Frath stood in the doorway of the
room.

“Daddy?” Pelya’s voice sounded pitiful to
her own ears. She felt childish for wanting him to come pick her up
and hide her away from all the bad things in the world.

Frath held out his arms and came toward the
bed. “Come here. I’ve got you.”

Pelya carefully slipped Ebudae’s head on a
pillow before getting out from under the covers and rushing into
her daddy’s arms. He carried her into the common area of the suite,
unhooked his sword to place it on the floor and sat down on a
comfortable chair by the crackling fire in the hearth. Tina liked
to keep one going even in the summer time and Ebudae had never
discouraged her.

The tears flowed as Pelya curled up in his
lap. She didn’t fully understand why she was crying so hard, but it
was the only thing she wanted to do right then. Frath held her
tightly without saying anything. He understood her need for release
and allowed her to have it.

She fell asleep in his arms when the tears
were spent, but woke with a jerk when Tina accidentally clinked
glasses together while setting down a bottle of wine for Frath. The
servant looked horrified at having woken her. “It’s alright,” Pelya
assured her. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” Her face was messy, so
she used a handkerchief that Tina gave her to wipe it. “I’m sorry,
Daddy.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for. In fact,
I’m glad you were able to cry. It’s one of the first steps in
dealing with it.” He ran his hand firmly up and down her back to
get her muscles to relax some. It helped. Tina closed Ebudae’s
bedroom door all but a crack and then left the suite so they could
be alone.

She looked up into his eyes, seeing the
tender concern there. “I don’t want to kill anyone ever again,
Daddy.” Pelya felt more vulnerable than she ever had in her life.
If he were to become angry, it would crush her.

“I’m glad.” He kissed her forehead.

“You are?”

“Yes. I’m glad you don’t want to kill
people. I don’t like it either.”

Pelya frowned in confusion. “But you’re good
at it and all of you joked about it.”

“I’m sorry.” Tears sprang to his eyes, but
he held them back. The light from the fire glistened in them,
making the facets sparkle. “I never wanted you to think I like it.
I don’t. We joke about it because we know how terrible it is and we
either laugh or go insane with remorse.” Frath ran a hand tiredly
over his face. “I justify killing people by only . . . mostly only
killing people because they’re hurting others and making the world
a worse place. If I can arrest them, I do so. If not, I kill them.
That doesn’t necessarily make me good, but I try to do my best to
make the right decisions.”

“Mostly only?” The words struck Pelya as
odd.

“I . . . don’t want to tell you, but . . .
I’ve killed some people who might not have deserved it. I’ve killed
a couple of people because they made me mad.” Frath looked
miserable. “I murdered them and got away with it.”

The confession terrified Pelya. She flung
her arms around his neck. “It’s alright, Daddy. I love you.” She
had to. He was the best thing in the world. Pelya sat back and
looked him in the eyes again. “Dralin is a terrible city. It makes
us do terrible things sometimes and I don’t care why you did it. I
just don’t care.”

The tears escaped Frath’s eyes finally and
he broke down. She tightly wrapped her arms around his neck again
and let him bury his face in her shoulders. It felt good to be
there for her father instead of him having to always be strong for
her.

It wasn’t long before he used a sleeve to
wipe his eyes. “Sorry. We’re talking about you, not me.”

“It’s alright, Daddy.” Pelya stood,
stretched out her stiff muscles and then proceeded to pour them
both a glass of wine. He didn’t very much like her drinking wine
most times, but didn’t protest. She sat in the chair on the other
side of the skinny table and brought her legs up so she sat facing
him. “If you don’t want to talk about this, we don’t have to.”

“No! I
do
want to talk about it. It’s
important to do so. Killing someone isn’t natural. It takes a toll
on the soul too. If you don’t talk about what happened, it can eat
away at you from within, making you bitter and angry. Some people
even become addicted. I’ve seen it.”

“I don’t want to become addicted to killing,
Daddy.” The very thought made her want to scream in horror.

He reached a hand over. “You won’t. I’m not
worried about that at all. What I am worried about is how hard
you’re taking this.” Frath shifted in his seat, finding a more
comfortable position. He took a sip of wine. “The men that you
killed were legitimately bad men. That means something, to me at
least.”

“It means something to me too. If they
weren’t, I don’t know if I’d be able to live with myself.”

“I definitely understand that. Another thing
that makes a difference is that they were trying to kill you.”
Frath emphasized the point by squeezing her hand.

“But we were invading the estate they were
paid to protect, so they were just doing their job.” Pelya liked
her father’s argument better, but doubt had been nagging her.

“Did you notice that they were all men?”

It had occurred to her at one point during
the fighting. “I did notice that. Dralin is known for having women
in the Guard and they’re popular to use for estate guards as well.
The Altordan army has women in it too.” She took a sip of her wine,
careful not to drink too quickly.

“Very true. There are many kingdoms that
don’t allow it though.” Frath released her hand and shifted in his
chair again, crossing one leg over the other. “One thing I’ve found
to be true in almost every case with slavery though is that women
usually don’t participate, at least not directly.”

“Really? Why?” Pelya took another sip and
set the glass down. She loved listening to her father talk about
his work because he had perspectives that none of the instructors
or books had.

“I think it’s for two reasons. Women tend to
nurture more than they hurt. I’ve seen it repeatedly. A man
sometimes feels a beast-like desire to hurt something, while a
woman wraps her child in her arms and takes a blow.” There was
anger in Frath’s face as though he was remembering rather than
theorizing.

“What’s the second reason?”

“Because men who think other people are
property also tend to think women are property as well. Rather than
accepting a woman as an equal, they’d throw her in a cage with the
slaves.” He looked mad by that point.

“I wish I could help you protect all the
women in the world, Daddy.” Pelya knew he considered the death of
every innocent young woman in Dralin as a personal failure and
wondered how much of it had to do with her mother.