***
Kohau was exhausted. Yelve had pushed both their mounts as much as she dared after they left the orchard. With three days ride behind them, they still had another day or so before they reached Usha. As tired as he was, Kohau had to wonder how she didn’t appear worse, because he knew she kept watch during the few hours they stopped to rest at night. His rest wasn’t all that it should have been either. He suspected that any time they stopped was more for the benefit of the horses than their riders.
Kohau was confused. It was hard to tell which version was her true self. Was she the reserved guard hiding behind the mask of a fool, or something a great deal more troubling? She had remained rather tight lipped since they started their journey to Usha. He didn’t fear physical danger from her, but he couldn’t ignore the hard angry edges she had wrapped herself in.
It was with this in mind that he brought his horse up beside hers. “Yelve, what can I expect from Usha?”
“Order in the streets for the most part. Don’t trust any urchins with pity stories; they all have sticky fingers.”
“And the people we’re going to see?”
“Let me do most of the talking.”
He waved a fly away from his face. “They’re that bad?”
“Not always. But we’re not going to be there for afternoon tea or to hire them.” She snorted. “And Hauber doesn’t like me much.”
“Is this really a good idea then?”
She turned to look at him for the first time in days. “Hauber always has his ears to the ground. He’ll know more than anyone else we’re likely to come across. And if he let his men join in any raids where people of Leistros were killed, the rest of them will get the message when I separate his head from his body.”
“You would really do that? Kill someone just because they did something foolish?”
“We apparently have different ideas on what foolish actions are.” She turned back to the road ahead. “You can wait outside town if that would make you feel better, little scholar.”
“Stop calling me that! And that’s not what I meant. What if he didn’t know what the person who hired them was out to do?”
She snorted. “That patch of fabric is Hauber’s guild mark. He has a reputation to uphold. One of his mandates is to not harm the innocent – therefore no man of his is to engage in actions that result in the dead bodies we saw at the orchard. Certainly not the children. Things are quite different away from the safe confines of a library.”
“Surely you need permission first to execute someone.”
“All I used to need was a bag of coins.” She brushed a few strands of hair behind her ear, but it did little to soften her right then. “Hauber’s deal with the council was that they would not take up arms against the people of Leistros no matter the money. If they have broken their word, there is little else that needs to be said.”
“Yes, but –“
“You’re going to excuse the slaughter of innocent villagers?” Her head whipped towards him, a dark fire in her eyes. “Because that is who I serve. Not a group of people who ally themselves with the largest chest of gold dropped at their feet.”
Kohau found his anger growing. “You said earlier that you did the same thing.”
“I was a paid assassin. I couldn’t very well whore myself out for food and board with a face like this. One day I was given the task to kill a young lady. Manyol was different, and instead of killing her I saved her.” She finally turned away from him. “I pledged myself to her service to atone for my past. Leistros gave me a home, and I will do anything to protect it. And I never once took the life of a child.”
“This is my home too, but I could never kill someone just because.”
“People like me exist to keep the ones like you and manyol from getting your hands dirty. Would that I could also spare you having the thoughts in your head – but it is too late to send you back now. If you seek absolute love and tolerance from the great serpents, you’ve joined the wrong temple.”
Silence fell between them again as Kohau let his horse fall in behind Yelve’s. The conversation left him feeling dizzy. How did he resolve the image of this woman who had once been a paid killer to the person he had come to know? She had played games in the roadside dust with the children of the two lady farmers, and he could tell that the children killed in the attack on the orchard had affected her more than she let show. And yet she was calm and composed when talking about killing someone for money. Except she hadn’t killed the High Lady when she had been paid to do so. Yelve was more confusing than scrolls written in some ancient tongue long out of use.
It didn’t help either that he still found himself attracted to her. That was the part that truly made no sense. She hadn’t reacted to his initial attempts to flirt and charm so he’d done his best to remain professional in their dealings. But you couldn’t spend all your time traveling with another person and not expect something to develop. Yelve, though, appeared no more interested in him than she did in the few tomes he had tucked away in his bags. Except for that one morning before they had reached the orchard when he’d woken to find her staring at him. There had been something in her green flecked eyes that morning that he hadn’t seen since.
Diversity Is Coming Page 29