Ebudae (45 page)

He smiled at her. “Thank you. I wish you
could too, but it doesn’t seem possible to change the world.”

“You told me not to worry about the whole
world. Just try to have a positive effect on everything you touch.
I try to do that as much as possible, Daddy.”

“I know you do, and you’ve already had a
positive effect. I don’t just mean that you’ve led the way on
saving hundreds of slaves and shutting down Blavoci’s holdings in
Dralin.” Frath took her hand again. “You touch the lives of
everyone around you for the better. It’s true in the Guard, but I
also look at Ebudae. She only smiles when you’re around and I’m
pretty sure you’re her only friend in the world.”

“You are too,” Pelya pointed out. A thought
occurred to her. “There’s something I should tell you though.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, but I don’t want you to hate her.”
Pelya suddenly decided that she shouldn’t have brought it up.

“I already know she’s not normal. Really, I
don’t think there’s anything you can tell me that would make me
hate her.” He squeezed her hand in reassurance.

“I don’t know . . .” She decided to take the
chance. “Ebudae
likes
killing.” Frath raised an eyebrow.
Pelya quickly explained. “Only if it’s a challenge. She killed a
wizard in that first warehouse and she likes killing dangerous
creatures . . . but it’s different.” The explanation wasn’t going
well. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“It’s alright. Are you trying to say she
likes pitting herself against an opponent to see if she’s better?”
He let go of her hand and took another sip of his wine.

“Sort of . . . It’s like that, but . . . she
actually likes watching death too . . .” Pelya regretted saying
anything at all.

“I see.” He shrugged. “I’m glad you’re her
friend. Other than that, I’m not going to judge her. Are you still
fine with me considering her as a daughter?”

“Yes! Definitely. She’s my best friend and
she looks up to you. I consider her my sister too.”

“She does?” Frath asked in surprise.

“Yeah. Ebudae tells me how much it means
that you’re always nice to her. You’re the only adult in the world
who has ever treated her with respect.”

“Well . . . She deserves it. As far as her
fascination with death . . .” He shrugged again. “Some people are.
I’ve seen it before.” He took another drink of his wine. “I love
Ebudae as my daughter and accept the fact that she’s odd. I always
have.”

“Thank you, Daddy.” Pelya smiled gratefully.
His acceptance of Ebudae meant more to her than she had
realized.

“Of course.” He returned the smile briefly
before becoming serious again. “Now let’s get back to you not
wanting to kill.”

It was as though ice replaced the blood in
her veins. She shivered. “Alright.”

“I know this is hard, but it’s important,”
he assured her. “The first thing I want to say is that if you are
in the Dralin City Guard, there will almost certainly be another
situation, probably many more, where you are in a kill or be killed
situation.”

“I know, Daddy.” Pelya took a rather large
gulp of her wine.

“Do you know that you don’t have to join the
Guard?”

Pelya had never even considered doing
anything else, but the question required real thought and
consideration. That took all of three seconds. “I
want
to
join the Guard. I
am
in the Guard, Daddy.” Tears of
desperation welled in her eyes.

“I know.” Frath’s voice was very calm and
supportive. “You can stay in the Guard, but the question had to be
asked. There’s another thing to consider too.”

“Yes, Daddy?”

“If you do come into a situation where you
have to kill someone, will you be able to?”

“Yes.” She had no hesitation in that, which
surprised her father. “I’ve considered that already. I will not
allow anyone to kill me, Daddy. I won’t allow anyone to kill you,
or Ebudae, or anyone in the Guard. If it is necessary to kill them,
then I will do so.”

“You sound very confident of that.”

“I am. The death of . . .” the memory stuck
again, “. . . those men dying on my sword keeps going over and over
in my head.” Pelya took a deep breath and exhaled slowly to keep
her emotions calm. Her father gave her silent support. “But every
time I see it in my head, it occurs to me that I’d do the same
thing again. If someone attacked you or Ebudae, I’d kill them just
like I did those men.” An involuntary sob broke from her throat.
“It’s not that I can’t or won’t, it’s just that I don’t
want
to do it.” She took a sip of wine so he wouldn’t take her hand and
squeeze it again. Pelya was done crying and that would make it hard
not to.

Frath showed understanding for her need by
keeping sympathy out of his voice. “I understand how you feel,
because I feel much the same way. I don’t
want
to kill
people. I
do
want to make the city safer and sometimes it’s
necessary to do so in my job.”

A thought had been bothering Pelya. “Uncle
Gilron killed all those men. He was showing off, even though he
tells recruits not to do that. Then he killed that helpless man.
You’ve told me over and over not to kill helpless people.”

“That’s true, although you have to make sure
it’s not a bluff, because some people will use it as a dirty
tactic.”

“I remember you telling me that, but he
wasn’t bluffing. His knee was gone and he was in pain.” The more
Pelya thought about it, the more she was angry with the
weaponmaster. “It was like he took pride in killing those men.”

“He did,” Frath admitted. To Pelya’s
surprise, he poured her a little more wine. “Gilron Coodmur is one
of my best friends, but like all my friends, he’s a bit odd.”

“You do have odd friends,” Pelya replied.
“I’ve been noticing that more and more.”

Frath chuckled. “Yeah, I do. I like them
better than people who pretend to be normal.” He winked and Pelya
chuckled too. “There you go. It’s nice to hear you laugh a little
and see you smile.”

Pelya blushed, but left the smile where it
was.

“Anyway, the weaponmaster comes from a
different background. He’s only told me a little.” Frath stared at
the fire. “His childhood was filled with training much like yours,
but the emphasis was killing people, not about skill. He killed his
first man when he was twelve. After that, he became a soldier and
immediately went to war. I don’t know what happened to make him
come to Dralin, but I know he never wants to be in a war
again.”

“Then why did he kill those men that way?
They might have surrendered.”

“Perhaps he needed to see if he still
could.” Frath stretched in the chair. “People from other kingdoms
have different customs. What’s right to us may be wrong to them.
Unless you know a person’s past, it’s difficult to understand them
fully. I try not to judge people.”

“I didn’t mean to judge him, Daddy.”

“No, no. I’m not accusing you.” He shook his
head. “It’s just hard to understand people sometimes and honestly,
I was also angry when he killed that man. It was cruel and while I
understand that he was raised that way, it wasn’t acceptable.”

“Are you angry with me for killing those
men, Daddy?” Pelya was afraid he would be.

“No! I’m not mad at you at all!” He stood
and held his arms out and she rushed into their safety. “You stood
in front of Ebudae and protected her against very dangerous
swordsmen. I was
so
proud of the way you handled yourself.
That officer especially.” He held her by the arms and looked her in
the eyes. “He was the most dangerous of the group, but you were
faster and better in every way. I can’t tell you how badly I wanted
to take the fight from you.”

“I would have been mad if you had.” Pelya
couldn’t help feeling that way. Even though she didn’t want to kill
anyone, it had been her job. Had her father or anyone taken it from
her, it would have instilled self-doubt. “I felt them die. My
blades cut into them and it made me feel sick.”

“Yeah. I still feel that way. It’s a good
thing to feel as long as it doesn’t stop you or endanger your
life.” Frath tousled her hair; she hadn’t braided it yet.

“I made certain of that when I was fighting.
No matter what happened, I kept my head.” It had been drilled into
Pelya over and over again. The sticky fire on her hands was
terrifying and she had wanted to run away. When she had been cut
across the nose and then in the thigh, it had taken all her
willpower to remain focused on using her hands to wield her swords
rather than staunch the blood flow.

“You did excellent. A common reaction is to
run away or curl up in a ball when hurt. It’s usually a fatal
reaction too.” He kissed her forehead. “You’re a brave and
wonderful woman, Daughter. Raising you is the best thing I’ve ever
accomplished.”

“Thank you, Daddy.” They held each other
tightly for a good long while.

“Get some sleep now. We have court tomorrow
back in the Guard District. They have a magistrate who’ll ask us a
lot of questions. Captain Zephan said they’ve gone through the key
pieces of evidence and should be able to wrap up the case
tomorrow.”

“That was fast. I didn’t expect it to be
done for weeks.” Pelya was genuinely surprised.

“By taking down Blavoci, we made a lot of
other merchants nervous. The High Council wants to put this to rest
as soon as possible.” He picked up his sword and downed the last of
his wine. “Captain Pumosa has been investigating him for quite a
while and this magistrate’s office has been going over the evidence
the whole time. The coordinated attack will be presented as the
culmination of the investigation.”

“What about Zaan?”

“Who? . . . Oh! The Rojuun.” Frath rubbed
his stubbled chin, desperately in need of a shave. “That’s a good
question. I don’t know. We’ll ask Captain Zephan tomorrow.” He gave
her a shove towards Ebudae’s room. “Now get some sleep.”

“Alright, Daddy.” Pelya went into the
bedroom and climbed back into the bed. It wasn’t long before she
was sleeping a deep, nightmare-free sleep.

Chapter
30

“Get your braid out of your mouth,” Ebudae
whispered at Pelya in exasperation. It had to be the twentieth time
she had said that during the trial. Pelya stuck her tongue out and
began biting on her nails. Frath, sitting on the other side of
Pelya, knocked the fingers away. Pelya sighed in exasperation and
crossed her arms stubbornly.

They were in a small courtroom within the
Guard District. Ebudae was nibbling on food that was on the table
even though she had eaten another full meal upon waking that
morning and a moderate lunch when a break had been taken in the
proceedings.

Bubbo was an even better cook than the
previous one and the breakfast had tasted wonderful. She had no
idea how anyone else was working out yet because she had either
been sleeping, invading Thanzin’s manor or sitting in this
courtroom all day.

“I hope they reach their decision soon. It’s
almost time for dinner,” Pelya whispered in her ear from where she
sat on Ebudae’s right. Sir Imbra and Appana sat next to Frath. On
the other side of Ebudae were Commander Coodmur, Clutz, Grinkin and
Florsy. A grey-haired magistrate sat at a large table on the far
end, surrounded by assistants who were helping him to look over
papers. There was a low murmur in the room from people bored of
waiting.

“I agree.” Ebudae whispered back. “I want to
go home and pet Shade.”

Pelya rolled her eyes. “You’re so weird.
That’s what I like about you.”

“Do you think the magistrate will have
problems with anything?” Ebudae was nervous. Shutting down
Blavoci’s interests in Dralin had been a major undertaking that
required attention from offices of the High Council of Dralin.

“No. The magistrate is a representative of
the High Council, but a low ranking one.” Pelya moved her chair
against Ebudae’s so they could put their heads together while
whispering. “Everything was presented with a tidy little bow and
there is no cleanup to be done, especially with Thanzin dead.”

“What happened to him? I missed that
part.”

“I don’t know exactly. He died in jail.
Nobody has any details.” Pelya didn’t seem overly remorseful about
it.

“How are you doing, by the way? I keep
meaning to talk to you about . . .” She didn’t know how to bring it
up.

“I’m alright.” Pelya smiled reassuringly.
“It’s still vivid in my mind and even the way it felt when my
swords cut into . . .” She paled and rested her forehead on
Ebudae’s shoulder.

“I want to talk to you about it, but it’s
hard when I’m always asleep,” Ebudae said ruefully. She rested her
cheek against Pelya’s head.

“It’s alright. We’ll get to talk soon.” She
sat back up. “Daddy said I can come over any time and I don’t even
need an escort if it’s during the day.”

“I can go out anytime I want because I’m the
boss now.” Ebudae stuck her tongue out.

Pelya stuck out her tongue in return.
“You’re not the boss of me though.”

“If I was, then I’d make you stay inside all
day and night.”

“That’s because you’re mean and weird.”
Pelya nudged her with an elbow and Ebudae nudged back. They both
giggled.

“Sergeant, please tell your children to
behave,” the weaponmaster said quietly over their heads.

Frath looked at them in amusement.
“Behave.”

“Yes, Daddy,” both girls whispered in unison
before bursting into more giggles they tried to cover with their
hands.

The weaponmaster sighed.

A glance in their direction from the
magistrate’s grey eyes chased the giggles away. A moment later,
Ebudae whispered to Pelya again. “Thank you for protecting me. If
it wasn’t for you, they would have killed me.”

“I’m never going to let that happen,” Pelya
vowed in the fiercest whisper Ebudae had ever heard. They squeezed
hands in support of each other.