A Girl and Her Monster (Rune Breaker) (7 page)

She didn't know that for sure and previous experience indicated otherwise, but she clung to that idea more than any other: People were
good
. Some just lost their way. Some were just born aberrations.

Even you don't believe that.

I do. And I won't punish you. I don't even know how, but I wouldn't. Slaves get punished. You are not my slave.

More than a minute had passed and Kaiel had watched the silent exchange with his jaw clenched. “Taylin, if he...”

“No.” She replied softly, smoothly ignoring Ru's response to her. “I lost my wings years ago. We've only known each other a short time.”

There was truth in that, he could feel it. So he nodded cautiously. “Would you like them back?”

“Excuse me?”

“Your wings. I'm not an expert on the art, but they can be grown back. The spell is powerful and usually expensive, but...”

Ru appeared not two feet from him, a look of derision curling his lip. “No charlatan can return what was once lost to a body.”

Anger slammed through the link with enough force to make him wheel around into the green glare of his not-mistress.

Behind him, Kaiel scoffed. “I notice that this all powerful mage before me hasn't done so either.”

Unable to catch both of them in his own glare where he was, Ru floated back to do so at range. “That is because it
cannot
be done. Not without sacrifice.” Bitterly, he added, “
Willing
sacrifice. Do not seek to accuse and lecture me when you dangle false hope in a sad attempt at bedding a 'helpless' damsel.”

The accusation made Kaiel choke on a gasp. “How dare you even imply such a slur against my profession!?”

That made absolutely no sense to Ru, but before he could retort along those lines, a deep growl caught all three of them off guard. It had come from Gruwluff, who had stopped in his tracks at Bromun's urging. The halfling grinned at how easily he'd been able to derail the argument.

“Neither one of you can manage regeneration once the wound's healed.” He said gruffly. “Kaiel knows that too. But he also knows that if you put your hand in protecting us, Grandmother will share the blessing Sylph gives her with you. Can you at least agree that even you can't match the power of a god?”

Ru gathered himself up and replied sullenly. “If my guess is correct; attempted and failed.” Suddenly, he set eyes on Kaiel and Taylin felt a mixture of curiosity and tentative pride wafting from him. “Tell me, charlatan; how did that bay form?”

He was met with surprised staring for a moment. All of the cruel aggression arrayed against him had just fled in an impossibly mercurial mood. Still, being called a charlatan again was a step up from the accusation that haunted those of his calling.

“The end of the War of Ascension.” He said smoothly. “Dey's counter-stroke against the hailene for nearly exterminating the races that worshiped her most devoutly? You've... not heard this?” He turned to Taylin. “Surely as a hailene, you've heard of the sinking of most of the Illium mainland.”

Illium. Home of the hailene. The island she'd never seen, but which was the source of all her torment. Sank by the holy wrath of a god. But so had the armadas, both the one that was home to her brothers and sisters, and the one that carried the heroes that opposed the masters. She didn't feel anything for any of them, but it hardly seemed fair.

That didn't feel important at the moment. Nor did Ru's inflating sense of pride at having merely been knocked into torpor by the distant god-wrought cataclysm. No, one thing loomed large in her mind now. She turned hopeful eyes on Bromun.

“Is that true? She can give me back my wings?” It had been three years since a visiting Choirmaster had given the order and since then, she'd only been able to fly in her best dreams. To have them back...

There were tears in her eyes when Bromun nodded. “If you fight and protect the clan, Grandmother will see it a worthy way to pay that debt. The life of family is our great treasure and we guard it jealously.”

Taylin smiled. There was a sentiment she'd never thought she'd ever hear. “I've actually never known anyone who thought that way.” She admitted.

“Ha. And we think it strange that everyone doesn't.” Bromun said, urging Gruwluff forward to match Taylin's gait.

“Please, tell me more about your people, Bromun.”

“Where to start? Well the most important thing is that we don't see the world or each other the way the other races do. For us, every halfling is our cousin...” As Taylin and Bromun fell into a deep conversation on the nature and philosophy of the halfling race, Kaiel found himself lagging slightly behind with Ru.

“Why exactly are the two of you traveling together?”

“She has just as little control over it as I do.” Ru replied. “And just as little understanding of it as you do.”

Kaiel set his horse into a trot. “I understand a tiny bit. For example: Taylin vexes you because you don't understand things such as how she doesn't want to hurt people, and yet so easily picks up her sword for the village. Maybe it's part of the old adage of evil not comprehending good.”

“I'm no demon. I'm worse.”

“That I don't doubt. A demon does evil because it's their instinct, or because they are driven to it by their master. A mortal man, no matter how intensely saturated with magic...” Ru stared at him in shock. “Yes, I can feel it. That's a first year charm. Now where was I? Right, a mortal man does evil for gain, or sadism, or vengeance; base things that they should rise above.”

Ru folded his arms and floated along wordlessly before asking, “What makes you think man can rise above it? They might speak of right and justice, but what they are in the dark is their true skin.”

“Now we talk philosophy.” Kaiel noted. “In fact, the philosophies of the Bardic College. We exist to assist in that rise.”

“And that is the 'third' philosophy of which you speak?”

“In a way. But all three have it at the core. The first was to merely inspire others to change the world. It was meant to take us out of the Age of Tragedies, but it wasn't enough. Inspiring a weakling only kills them, after all. The second philosophy is the one that prevails now, the one the College endorses: don't just inspire, but help and chronicle. Then using those chronicles, teach others the successes and mistakes of the future.”

He shifted in the saddle to make himself comfortable. “That's how we actually escaped the Age of Tragedies. The basic rule is that all of us; chronicler, bard, scald and loreman make the heroes and immortalize them in story. We never become part of it.”

“But there is a third.” Ru said. “Because even that can't combat the nature of demi-humanity.”

“I wouldn't call it nature. I call it culture and tradition. Blood hatreds and ignorance. But yes, there are those of us that think there need to be another step to keep us from backsliding.”

“And this philosophy that you follow?”

“The same I think exists in Taylin naturally.” said Kaiel. “Don't wait for a hero. Don't stall until you have a catspaw to build up because one may not appear. Act. Let the followers of the second philosophy write your stories for you.”

Ru cackled briefly and looked ahead at Taylin. “You believe all of that. And yet you are still not half as mad as she.”

The sun had just started to set when they finally reached the village. Kaiel's description had been, if anything, too generous.

Built on the banks of the river, the place was little more than a U shaped cluster of reed-roofed cottages, built from bricks of fired mud. The closed end of the 'U' faced away from the river and was made up of larger, better built structures; likely a communal barn and storehouse. In the very center of the wide arc of huts was a large communal garden, only recently sown at that time of year.

There was no wall, or fence, as the region was of little interest to even marauding beasts. But what the villagers lacked, the Clan of the Winter Willow had provided, after a fashion.

More than two dozen hard topped caravan wagons encircled the tiny town like wooden sentinels. As they drew closer, Taylin could see wolves dozing beneath a few, occasionally in full harness and attended by a sharp eyed halfling with a crossbow.

The nearest stood, alongside his wolf companion, to challenge them as they approached. Bromun calmed his wariness with a few words in their tongue. As they passed, the guard watched them with dark, silent eyes, clearly taking their measure should Bromun's faith be misplaced. To his credit, he didn't even take a second look when Ru floated past, silent and grim as usual.

Moving on, Taylin nearly tripped on something half buried in the dust. A glance down found a twisted hemp rope. There were two others just like it, also partially concealed. All of them were tied off to the hitches of adjacent wagons.

This struck Taylin as odd, but before she could inquire after them, a gleeful shriek came from up ahead. Two halfling children, a boy and a smaller girl, were running flat out for all they were worth toward their group.

The boy ran straight to Bromun, who caught him in an exuberant hug. The girl, chattering in the language of the people, dashed over to Kaiel and held up her arms in the universal gesture of a child who wants to be picked up.

Kaiel did not disappoint. He passed the reins of his horse to Rolfas and, making sure his rifle wasn't in the way, he scooped the child up in a gale of happy laughter and childish babble. He laughed a bit and spoke back to her in her own tongue before directing her attention to Taylin.

“This is my friend, Taylin.” He explained slowly and in words Taylin could understand. “She only knows imperial tradespeech, so you're going to have to use that to talk to her, okay?” The little girl nodded enthusiastically. “That's a good girl. Now say 'hello'.”

Shining brown eyes looked up at the former slave and a tiny hand came up to wave. “You're tall.” She said with a voice filled with wonder.

Both Taylin and Kaiel laughed at this, but Kaiel was quick to correct her. “Silly girl. That's not how you say hello to new people. How did Grandmother teach you?”

The little girl looked sheepish for a moment, then composed herself until she had her face done up in a comically serious mask. “Hello.” She said with the stiltedness only a reciting child can manage. “My name is Raleian matei-Bromun.”

“That's a good girl.” Kaiel grinned proudly. To Taylin, he added. “Bromun's daughter. That's his son with him, Motseitiel matei-Raiteria. Everyone calls him Motsey though.”

He bounced the little girl in his arms once more time before setting her down. “Rale, go to your daddy now, sweetheart. Taylin and I need to speak with Grandmother.”

Rale giggled happily and ran over to her father and brother, making more happy little shrieking sounds along the way.

“She's darling.” Taylin said.

“Aye. But just a warning, no matter how much any of the kids beg, and they will, do not pick them up unless it's life or death, Grandmother or Grandfather has expressly said that it's okay, or their parent does. Halflings do not take well to non-family handling their children. You would die. Screaming.”

With that, he started toward the center of the village, where in addition to the garden, there were two wagons parked. Unlike the brightly colored, dust covered things surrounding the place, these two were painted white, though one had a fairly involved likeness of creeping vines painted on its sides.

The space between the two was given over to a campfire, ringed with large flat river stones the villagers probably used for all their sitting needs. Two elderly men were siting by the fire now, to one side of a halfling woman who was diligently scratching something around the mouth of a clay urn half as tall as she was.

Taylin knew only a little about halflings, and was now sure that she knew absolutely nothing about their culture. If the halfling woman were hailene or human, she would look to be in her forties. But halflings she had seen in the captivity and known to be more than six decades old, still looked a human twenty, meaning this woman was very old indeed.

As a backdrop of the entire scene, the human villagers were coming and going with urgency, filling several large tubs made of hammered tin with buckets of river water. Old men and the old halfling alike ignored them. They ignored one another too, for the most part; the elderly men holding themselves silent while shooting one another worried looks.

Kaiel hailed the halfling woman in their language and came to stand before her, head deeply and respectfully bowed. Unsure of what to do, Taylin did as he did. Ru on the other hand, floated past to study the tubs, a feeling of interest and professional approval in the link.

After a few minutes of back and forth between herself and Kaiel, the halfling woman lifted her eyes to Taylin. They were kind and in the firelight, it could be seen that her hair lightened from the normal halfling black at the root, becoming a soft, medium brown. Her fingers never stopped working on her etching.

“I am told that chroniclers are excellent judges of character.” She said. “And Keese Kaiel believes that you are genuine in your desire to help us help the people here.”

Taylin failed to meet her gaze and ducked her head in the affirmative. “Yes. I want to help. I've seen this happen too often and just once, I want to stop it.”

The
click-click-scratch
of the slim metal rod the halfling was using on the vase slowed slightly. “He refused to vouch as highly for your companion.” Kaiel shifted uncomfortably and looked at Taylin sidelong.

She bit her lip. “The honest truth is, I cannot either. But if you turn him away, you'll have to turn me away as well.”

“Oh?” The word blended to perfection curiosity, suspicion and mild surprise.

“It's complicated. Ru and I are strangers, but there is a spell binding us together. I myself don't understand the full extent of it, not being gifted for magic, but it will do something to him if we're separated.”

The halfling looked to Kaiel for confirmation.

“Apologies, Grandmother, but I didn't know as much. Only that they can converse without speaking; be that telepathy or something else, I haven't had time to analyze it yet.”