Death Comes To All (Book 1) (13 page)

"Should
I assume that the reason you want to keep Roland with us has
something to do with your past then?" Tara asked quietly. As she
expected, silence was the only answer she received.

Chapter
Six

When
Roland awoke he was surprised to find, for the first time since they
had started traveling together, that Tara was still asleep. Normally
his companions were already awake and ready to go before he opened
his eyes. The feral woman had her face tucked into the inside of her
elbow, shielding her eyes from the light of the morning sun. As he
looked at her one of her ears twitched involuntarily, as if brushing
away some unseen insect.

"She
ate nearly half of that fish last night," Malik said from behind
him. He turned to find the man leaning against a tree, meticulously
running a dagger across a small whetstone. Roland noticed that it was
the same dagger that he had used the night before to clean the gar,
though he knew that the assassin had several daggers hidden on his
person. "She'll probably be asleep for at least another hour or
two. She doesn't normally eat like that, but when she does it takes
her a while to sleep it off. You might as well relax for a bit."

Roland
reached into his pack, pulling out the last orange he had left. He
had been able to refill his pack with more fruit only a few days
before, but he was already starting to get sick of them. The night
before had been the first time in nearly a week that he had been able
to eat a meal of cooked vegetables. Every night before that had been
fruit, mostly oranges.

On
the farm he had grown up eating more green vegetables than any thing
else. Tart citrus fruits were more of a treat than a staple, but it
seemed as if on this road the opposite tended to be true. He tossed
the fruit back into his pack, not hungry enough to really want to eat
it.

"I
would have thought you would still be asleep as well," he
commented instead. "I remember you said it would take half the
night to clean that fish. Aren't you still tired?"

"I
didn't sleep," Malik answered. "I stayed up last night and
kept watch. There are dangerous animals that live out in these swamps
and waterways. The people that move up and down the road we’re
on can be even worse. Tara and I have been switching off watches
every night. So far we haven't seen a soul, and we should consider
ourselves lucky for that. Tara and I can take care of ourselves, but
you can still use a bit more training before testing your skills on
the type of men who would frequent
that
road."

"Why
haven't you given me a watch?" Roland asked. If he was going to
be a part of the group he wanted to pull his own weight. Tara had
suggested the night before that he might have a place with his two
companions.

How
can I hope to really be a part of the group if I don't take part in
all aspects of our travel?

"The
type of men that would risk attacking a group of people along this
road, even a group this small, know how to stay hidden in the dark.
Tara and I have both been doing this for a long time. We've dealt
with those type of people before. We know what to watch for, and how
to deal with them. Many of them would recognize me in this persona as
well, especially this close to the city. Anyone who's given us
trouble before and survived won't bother us a second time. They
wouldn't know you."

"Tara
told me yesterday that she thinks you want me to stay with you two
permanently, or at least for a while longer. Was she right?"

Malik
paused for a moment before answering. "That would be up to you,"
he said finally. "I told you that once before. I'm not going to
tell you to stay. If you stay it will be because you chose to."

"That
wasn't what I was asking. What I'm asking is, do you want me to
stay?"

"I
do, though my reasons are my own. I don't think it would be wise to
divulge them, at least not yet. I want to know you better before
trusting you with my secrets. If you choose to stay you may, in time,
learn those reasons. I'll leave that choice to you." Malik
turned away, and Roland knew from the time he had spent with the man
that he would say no more on the subject.

"Should
I be worried about anything when we reach the city gates?" he
asked instead.

"We
shouldn't have any problems," Malik answered. "Just let me
do all of the talking and we'll be fine."

"What
about the Thane? I know none of us will be dressed in their uniforms
going into the city, but couldn't someone have seen us on the road?
If word somehow got back to the city, they might be expecting you to
have a Thane guard. Should I keep my eyes out for trouble?"

Malik
chuckled. "I like the fact that you're thinking ahead, however
there's no need to worry. If anyone came within sight of us I would
have known. Trick would have seen them. His eyes are better than ours
ever could be. If he had seen someone on the road he would have
warned me. He knows we are trying to keep a low profile."

"You
act as if he can understand every word you say and knows what it is
that you do," Roland commented jokingly.

"That's
because he does," Malik replied lightly. It took Roland a moment
to realized that the man was completely serious. "Dragonlings
aren't like normal animals. They were created by magic, and like many
magical beings they don't really fit into the mold of other animals.
They are as intelligent as humans are, or very nearly so. They just
lack the proper vocal ability for speech. True dragons are said to be
the same way, though I wouldn't want to get close enough to one to
ask."

"How
do you know that they are that smart?" Roland asked, amazed. "Is
that why you keep one as a pet?"

"Hardly
a pet, though I can see why someone might not know the difference. I
had no idea that Trick would be that intelligent when I first found
his egg. I wasn't even planning on keeping him originally. I was
going to take the egg to the market to sell. He hatched along the
way. When a dragonling egg first hatches they look for their mother,
who would under normal circumstances be there to greet them. They
would stay with the mother for the first few months, until they are
old enough to care for themselves.

"When
Trick hatched he saw me as his mother. I could see it in the little
creature's eyes. So I kept him. I fed him and kept him safe. Later,
when he had gotten older, he watched as I hunted and in no time was
joining me in the hunt. On one hunt I started talking to him, just
giving instructions on what I wished I could get him to do. To my
surprise he followed them word for word."

"Couldn't
that just be a coincidence?" Roland asked skeptically. "It
would, after all, be in his nature to hunt, and if they learn from
their mothers naturally he could have just been learning from you."

"Which
is exactly what I thought at first. However, since then he has proven
time and again that he can understand at least some of what is said
to him. Certainly more than any animal I have ever heard of. Dogs can
be trained to understand some commands, but have you ever heard of
one that can understand complex strategies? He has even come up with
a few on his own, though I admit I didn't understand them really
until afterward. I wasn't looking for it, so I didn't see his
intelligence for what it really was. Now he's a valued member of our
group. His eyes and ears are both better than Tara's, and hers are
far better than mine, or yours for that matter."

"What
do you mean when you say he came up with strategies?"

"Well,
as a perfect example, I once had an unfortunate run in with someone
almost as skilled as I am. The man had been sent to kill me. I didn't
even know I had a contract out on me at the time. As soon as the man
walked in, Trick knew what he was about. How he knew I couldn't tell
you. He was sitting in the rafters of the bar I was in at the time.
Just as the man pulled out his dagger, which he could easily have
tossed into my back, Trick flew down and bit him right in the ass.
Probably the second funniest thing I've ever seen.

"Trick
had done a great job distracting the man, at least that's what I
think he meant to do. As soon as the man turned he flew directly into
his face. He tore off the man's fake beard, grabbed his glued on
mustache, and flew back up to the rafters with it. Then he put it on
his own face and started chirping loudly. It might not have been the
greatest impression of all time, but it was without a doubt the
absolute funniest thing I've ever seen.

"The
man was so distracted by what my little Trick had done to him that he
completely forgot about me for a second. It was so unprofessional I
had to teach him a lesson for it. Normally I would just kill the man
and be done with it, but instead I knocked him out and dragged him
back to my room in the inn. I spent three hours extracting
information out of him. Before it was finished I made him tell me who
hired him, who trained him, everything."

"Did
you kill him?"

"No,"
Malik answered, smiling at the memory. "Killing him would have
done him a favor. He let himself get distracted in the middle of a
hit, and against a professional at that. Instead of killing him I
turned him over to his guild master, bound and gagged. I'm certain
his teacher killed him, rather then allow him to continue to do him
such dishonor. If I train you I'm sure you won't tarnish my
reputation like that, right?"

"What!
No, of course not!" Roland cried in shock and fright. The
thought of doing something accidentally that could sign his death
warrant was not something he wanted to even contemplate, nor was such
a concern something he expected to have.

Malik
laughed loudly. "Relax. I was only joking with you. I wouldn't
give you any assignment you couldn't handle. Right now, that's not
anything. Besides, I don't remember saying that you were ever going
to be an assassin. I said you could stay with us, but I never said
anything about what capacity you would be joining us in. At the
current rate of your training, you are months if not years away from
being ready to attempt an assassination, even a simple job. Don’t
get me wrong, your training is going well. You could probably hold
your own as well as most in a fair fight, which is great after only a
month of training, but assassinations aren’t meant to be fair
fights. There’s a lot more involved than just swordsmanship. It
will be a while before you’re ready for something like that."

"What
did you plan on having me do then?"

"I
hadn't really thought about it much. Don't forget, you haven't
decided yet whether you're even going to stay with us or not,"
Malik reminded him. "Last time we talked about it, you were more
inclined to leave us once we were in the city. Have you changed your
mind already?"

"No,"
Roland admitted. "Tara seemed to think that you have something
in mind to get me to stay. She agreed that I should go with you to
see your client; that somehow whatever will happen there will
convince me to stay. I don't know if she's right.

“
I
have enjoyed the time I spent with you, so maybe I might decide to
stay if you can think of something I might do to contribute to the
group. Right now I feel like an outsider. I haven't really done
anything to help out. Even Trick does more to contribute than I do,
and he eats a lot less."

"It's
not like we've been buying those supplies," Malik joked. "You've
been gathering your own food as we go. You haven't been a burden to
us, not in the slightest. True, you will need more training before I
want you in a fight, but you're learning faster than you might
realize. In fact, faster than nearly anyone I've ever seen. Don't
think that just because you didn't last long against Tara in that
sparring match yesterday that you're not learning. She's one of the
best I know, with a weapon or without. It would take you years of
training just to have a shot at matching her. I might suggest trying
a heavier weapon. It seems better suited to your natural ability."

"Honestly
I did better in that match than I thought I would have, though I'm
sure she wasn't using even a fraction of her true skill. I think I
even surprised her a little." He chose not to mention to Malik
that he didn’t really remember much at all about the second
half of that match.

It
would be better to keep that to myself,
he decided.
At least
until I understand it a little more.

"I
watched that match, and you're right, she didn't even use a little of
what she could really do. Still, I haven't shown you that much yet,
and you managed to use the few things I've taught you in ways all
your own. Given enough time, you could become really good. I've told
you that before."

"You
have, though I'm not sure whether or not to believe it. You might
have some reason to lie to me, but if so I can't think of what it
might be. You could have just been trying to keep my confidence up.
What little I know about you leads me to believe that you have a
reason for everything you do, and Tara has said pretty much the same
thing. So while I don't know what those reasons might be, I believe
that they exist at least."

Malik
chuckled. "I've been hearing that a lot lately," he said.
"Well, if you're right and I have a reason that I'm not talking
about, I guess you'll just have to stick around a bit longer if you
want to find it out. Don't worry, whatever secrets I'm keeping have
nothing to do with whether or not your training is going well. I
don't have any reasons to hide that from you. You won't learn
anything if you don't know your own skill, and I want you to learn."