Todd's mouth tightened for an instant, and then he slipped off his shoes and bowed to the mat. "That's enough."
"No, it isn't."
Todd knelt beside Kynyr and grabbed his leg as it rose, stopping it. "Take your pants off and let me examine your leg before you do anything else."
Kynyr glared at Todd. "I'm going to walk without those fucking crutches."
"Let me see your leg and I'll get you a cane."
Kynyr heaved a sigh and let his leg drop to the mat. He untied the drawstring on his pants and slipped out of them.
Todd ran his gaze along the puckered scars on Kynyr's calf and thigh. The wounds from the arrows, which had not been poisoned, had closed and healed without leaving a mark; the ones that had been poisoned, however, had left ugly scars that would never go away. Seeing no signs of infection or irritation, Todd grasped Kynyr's leg and began kneading the muscles. "Tell me if it hurts."
Kynyr winced. "It's tender."
"How tender?"
"I can handle it."
"Lay back and let me work with it."
Kynyr obeyed.
Todd tested the flexibility of Kynyr's leg, lifting and bending, watching Kynyr's face for signs of pain. "At least you haven't made anything worse."
It seemed as if it were the longest hour of Kynyr's life as his grandfather worked on and with his leg, manipulating the muscles, stretching them, and kneading them. They pursued Kynyr's goal of wholeness together, testing the limits of Kynyr's damaged leg. When it became clear to Todd that the pain had become too great, he called a halt to it and fetched the cane as he had promised.
Todd laid the cane across Kynyr's lap. "How's that?"
Kynyr's eyes widened as he fingered the curved head of a gryphon wrought in kendaryl topping a hard rock maple cane. "Where did you get this?"
"The last time that Maeva de Groot brought some books for your Gram to translate was two weeks after the ambush. Three days ago she brought this along with some things your Gram had ordered. It's a gift from the Mikkal High Patriarch of Hadjys. He said to give it to you when you were ready for it. I guess that's now."
"It's beautiful."
"Oh, it's more than that. Grasp the stick and give the top a twist."
Kynyr frowned a question. Todd gave a nod. Kynyr twisted the top and it came free. He stared at the slender sword blade that emerged from the hard rock maple. "You're right."
"Use it well. I'll expect you up here at dawn and again an hour after dinner."
For answer, Kynyr laid the sword cane aside and hugged his grandfather.
* * * *
Kady sat on the dresser stool in front of the mirror, brushing her long flaxen hair and eyeing her reflection thoughtfully. The tansy had cleared more from Kady's body than just the abomination that had been growing in her womb since the first time that Cormic Parry and his two friends, Keith and Donald Greenlea, raped her. Kady felt clean for the first time in weeks. She had tried to stay strong, be strong, but underneath it all she realized now she had been terrified and despairing, ready to surrender all sense of herself. The knowledge of how close she had come to breaking when Gorgarty assaulted her in Cahira's backroom haunted her.
"Get yourself together; we're going for a drink at the Difficult Horse."
The brush paused in Kady's hand and hovered near her ear as she glanced at her door, which she had not heard open.
Todd leaned against the doorway.
"Is Cahira coming?" Kady laid the brush down.
"No. Just us."
She sucked in a breath and clasped her hands together in her lap to mask her shaking. A rush of fear that Kady thought she had gotten past swept her up as she remembered Gorgarty's words to her: had Todd inside you yet? No. Todd isn't like that. He isn't. He can't be. "I'll have to change clothes. I can't go like this."
She waved her hands at her sloppy shirt and trousers.
Todd shook his head at her. "That's exactly what you should wear. Belt on those knives I gave you."
Kady started braiding her hair, letting the sides blouse a bit in the way she usually wore it.
Todd crossed the room and caught her hands. "Not like that."
Kady froze as Todd undid her braid, grabbed the brush, and slicked her hair down into a severe look. He braided it and then folded it up into a knot at the base of her neck, which he tied with a thong of black leather. She shivered. "What are you doing?"
"Taking the softness out of your look."
"We're not going just for a drink?"
"We're Bearding the Bear."
"What's that?"
"Follow my lead and you'll understand."
It's a lesson. Kady felt dizzy with relief. There was nothing ominous in his insistence on them going alone. She retrieved her blades from the weapons rack that Todd had built her on the wall beside her bed and buckled them on, settling the knives comfortably at her hips and strapping the end of the sheaths to her thighs.
Todd squeezed her shoulder. "Remember, Kady. Hot rage gets you killed. Cold rage gets them killed. Never lose your temper. Learn to use your temper."
"I'll try."
* * * *
Hereward stopped in mid-sentence as Todd and Kady came into the tavern. He blinked and then stared at his daughter before walking over to the table. "Kady"
Kady stiffened and averted her eyes. Her father had not spoken to her since she moved in with Cahira and Todd. Always before, Kady had had at least two companions and sometimes as many as four. She knew the gossip, having gotten it from Rory who was always accurate. People were saying that she had seduced Gorgarty and was now sleeping with Todd.
"Address me, not her," Todd interrupted Hereward. "As her guurmondru, I will order for both of us."
The archaic word stopped Hereward in his tracks. "Of course, Master Sinclair."
"Mead for both my student and myself."
A loud laugh drew Kady's attention to the table where six young wolves sat drinking: Cormic Parry, the Greenlea brothers Keith and Donald Iollan Newell, and two others that she failed to recognize, which meant they must be new to Wolffgard.
Cormic nudged Donald. "Looks like the slut has found a new cock to slip in her hole."
Donald laughed, thrusting his middle finger underhanded at Kady suggestively.
Kady glared, snarling under her breath.
"Ignore them." Todd tapped Kady's arm to get her attention. "Talk is cheap. If one approaches you, remember what knees and elbows are for."
Kady lowered her head and became very interested in the tankard of mead her father placed in front of her. Hereward appeared to be struggling to ignore her to the same degree that she was trying to ignore him.
Hereward turned to Todd. "Bringing her here like this just the two of you there's going to be trouble."
Todd took a swallow from his tankard, his expression unreadable as he told Hereward in a voice that was far too quiet, "Keep your club behind the bar."
"You're looking for trouble."
"Only if it finds us."
"My daughter"
Todd crossed his arms on the table and leaned into Hereward's face. "She isn't yours any more. She's mine."
Kady hissed low. "You let them rape me told me to get used to it."
Todd touched her arm and Kady went silent.
Hereward Wiggins retreated to his bar, looking as if a demon was chewing his tail.
"They're watching us," Todd whispered.
Kady started to look, but Todd again tapped her arm.
"Pick a spot on the wall, Kady. Focus on that and then let your vision open all the way to the corners like I taught you."
She obeyed. "Oh, the guy that laughed. That's Cormic Parry and his buddies they" She blinked, for sitting in a darkened corner were Erskine Faraday and Robert Morcar. On the opposite side of the room sat Odhran and Lon Angelsey. "You set this up."
"Ayup. You may not have noticed, but Cormic and his friends have been following you around for a week."
"What?" Kady faltered. "What do
you mean?"
"Rory saw them. Give me a big laugh, Kady as if I've told you a joke."
Kady threw her head back and laughed. At first it sounded forced. However, after a moment, it rose from her diaphragm full and free.
Cormic glanced at his buddies. Donald snickered. The six rose together and sauntered over to Kady's table. "What's with the old geezer? You got a taste for gray cock or something?"
Donald grinned and his buddies laughed.
Todd said nothing, nor did Kady.
"Hey, I'm talking to you, slut." Cormic growled deep in his throat. "You want a real wolf, come out back and I'll cram it in good this time."
Still, Todd and Kady ignored him.
"I said, come out back. My bone is throbbing for you." Cormic yanked Kady from the chair and several things happened at once.
Kady stomped his instep, brought her knee hard into his groin, and slammed her palm up under his chin hard enough to knock his head back. Her adversary hit the ground and curled up, clutching his balls and cursing between sobbing breaths.
Morcar and Erskine charged across the common room just as Todd stepped between Kady and the mon's buddies. "Kick him, Kady."
Kady kicked Cormic in the head and stomach in quick succession. When his hands came up, one to fend her off and the other to push himself out of her way, Kady stomped his hand, breaking his fingers. "Asshole! You fucking asshole."
Cormic screamed.
"I hate you." Kady brought her foot down hard in his groin.
Todd parried a punch from Keith open-handed, snapped his hand back in a fist, and slammed it into Keith's chest over the heart. Keith's eyes bugged in shock. He made a choking noise and dropped to lie unmoving at Todd's feet.
"Next?" Todd demanded in a bland tone, glancing about. Of the other four, two had fled and the remaining two lay moaning on the floor with Erskine and Robert standing over them grinning. Most of the patrons had formed a circle to see what happened.
"What's going on here?" Caimbeul strode into the common room.
At the arrival of the lawgiver, people retreated to their tables.
Todd gathered Kady into his arms. "They attacked us."
Caimbeul knelt and touched Cormic's neck, then raised his eyes to Todd. "He's dead." He went to Keith. "This one too."
The room went silent until Kady burst into tears. Todd patted her back, and looked over her shoulder at Caimbeul. "If you don't mind, Lawgiver, I'll take her home. You know where to find us."
Hereward followed them outside and put his hand on his daughter's shoulder.
Kady came loose from Todd's sheltering arms and spit at her father. "Don't touch me. I hate you!"
Hereward sucked in a breath. "You killed him."
Kady stared into the disturbed face of her father, seeing the mix of revulsion and confusion. All those months that he had cast her to the dogs and yet she suddenly could not face him. Triumph and shame warred within her at his glance. He had let Cormic rape her; seen it happening and walked off without a backward glance, and yet could look at her like that. She retreated from both myn, shivering. "II didn't mean to kill him."
Todd followed her, his voice calm. "Yes, you did. Deep down inside yourself, you did. There's no shame in it, Kady."
She covered her face with her hands and backed further away. "I kept kicking him. I couldn't stop kicking him and he stopped moving and I kept kicking him." An edge of hysteria crept into her voice.
"You're evil," Hereward snarled at her. "You've lost all sense."
The word 'evil' struck as deep as knife into Kady's bosom. For an instant she wanted to fall to her knees and beg her father to forgive her. Anger rose suddenly, burning away the cobwebs of shame. She straightened and held out her hand to Todd. "You're right. I wanted to kill Cormic. He raped me three times, Da. You let him. He got me pregnant. I took tansy It's your fault, Da. When you withdrew your protection, they started pulling me down every time they caught me." A haunted look gave distance to her gaze, and her voice sounded hollow. "Cormic, Keith, Donald, and Gorgarty. They all raped me. But no one's ever going to touch me again. No one."
Todd took Kady's hand and drew her into the protective circle of his arm. He pinned Hereward with a glance as sharp as a mounting pin through a butterfly. "She's my daughter now, Hereward and you'll treat her as such."
"No." Hereward reached for Kady again, but Todd gave him a firm push that backed him up several steps. "What have you done to my daughter?"
"She's mine and I'm proud of her. Kady Wiggins no longer exists. Kady Sinclair has replaced her. Treat her as anything less and I'll thrash you within an inch of your life, Hereward. Understand me?"
"Yes." Hereward nodded. "I understand."
Todd turned and walked away with Kady in the circle of his arm.
* * * *
The room exploded into conversation as soon as Todd and Kady left. Hereward stumbled in looking as if he had been pole-axed, staggered to the bar, and snatched a bottle of whiskey from behind the counter. He poured himself a double in a dirty glass without thinking, gulped it down, and wiped his mouth off on his sleeve.
"What started this?" Caimbeul scratched the stubble on his chin and toed Cormic's corpse.
The tavern went so quiet that a brush of a feather would have sounded loud. Caimbeul searched the faces. "Well?"
"My daughter." Hereward said without turning. "They were going to drag her out back."
"What did you do about it?"
"Nothing. I stayed behind the bar." Hereward turned and rested his elbow on the smooth walnut heartwood with another double whiskey in his shaking hands.
Caimbeul saw Hereward's wife and his youngest daughter standing in the door to the kitchen. His wife had a hard expression, but the daughter had tears in her eyes. He wondered where the other two daughters were. "So, you were just going to let them rape your daughter?"
Hereward flinched, lowered his head, and refused to answer.
"Wasn't no rape about it!" Donald Greenlea protested from the floor where he cradled his younger brother's dead body. "Kady's a slut. We only been giving her what she wanted."
Caimbeul pulled at his lower lip, scratched under his nose, and turned a suddenly stern eye on Donald. "I'd say two dead bodies is a rather strong no, wouldn't you?"
"Ya can't rape a slut."
"That's bullshit. When a bitch says no it's no. Taking her against her wishes regardless of her alleged reputation is still rape. When you attack someone, you take your chances."
"We didn't attack her." Iollan rubbed the side of his face, wincing when he touched the edge of his blackening eye where Erskine had hit him.
Erskine shook his head. "Cormic, Keith, Donald, Iollan, and two others had been throwing insults and sexual suggestions at Kady and Todd from the moment they walked in. Then Cormic tried to pull Kady out of the chair."
Caimbeul listened and then reached into his pouch, taking out four strands of spellcord and strips of leather. He handed the cord to Erskine. "Bind them. Donald Greenlea. Iollan Newell. You're both under arrest for attempted rape. Lon, Odhran. I'd like you to help Erskine here escort them to the Lawgiver House and lock them in separate cells. When they are secured, get a wagon to move the corpses to the basement of the Lawgiver House." Caimbeul scanned the room for someone else he considered trustworthy and his gaze lit on Ezra. "Fetch Her Holiness Pandeena. Tell her I want her to act as coroner."
Iollan and Donald were jerked to their feet. They thrashed and cursed, but Erskine and his companions secured them with a minimum of rough handling. As they vanished out the door, Caimbeul turned to the one guardsmon remaining: Robert Morcar, who looked badly shaken.
"Todd killed Keith with a single blow," Morcar muttered. "I've never seen anything like it."
"Yeah. He was famous for that when we were young." Caimbeul let his gaze drift to the ceiling for an instant. "Hereward, pour me a double."
"Who is he?" Hereward demanded as he rounded the bar to get the lawgiver a clean glass.
Caimbeul settled into a chair and propped his feet on the one beside him. "Todd Sinclair studied the arts of the Fae, the Guild, the Creeyans, and the Sharani." As Caimbeul named each fighting style, the room went another degree quieter. "As well as his own people. Todd drove the spike through Alistar Weems' belly." Caimbeul accepted the glass of whiskey that Hereward poured for him and snagged the bottle out of the tavern master's hands. "He was Tarrant Redhand's mentor."
"That Sinclair's dead," protested someone at the back of the room that Caimbeul could not set name to.
Caimbeul knocked the double back and refilled his glass. "No. He was left for dead badly wounded by rights he probably should have died. But Todd's always been a stubborn sort." Caimbeul drained his glass a second time and refilled it. "Mess with him, and he'll teach you your manners assuming you survive the lesson."
* * * *
That night, Kady Wiggins celebrated becoming Kady Sinclair by cutting her hair off. She sat before her dresser mirror, hacking at her long flaxen locks with a pair of sewing scissors. "If I'm going to be a warrior, I might as well look like one."
"Let me help you." Cahira crossed the room and took the scissors from Kady. "How short do you want it?"
"Short enough they can't grab hold of it."
Cahira fingered the shortest lengths that Kady had cut. "A Gormondi cut would look terrible."
"I don't care what it looks like."
"Well, I do. You're pretty, Kady."
"I don't want to look pretty." Kady growled a curse under her breath.
Cahira gave a tiny nod with a trace of bemusement on her lips. "Well, would you be satisfied with two inches all over?"
"I guess so, Cahira."
"You can continue calling me Cahira, if that's what you're comfortable with. Or you can call me Gram like Kynyr. Pandeena has already expressed her willingness to transfer your parentage to us."
Kady's lips trembled as if she could not decide whether to smile or cry. She swiveled in her seat and hugged Cahira. "Gram."
THE END
SF/F/H FROM PAGETURNER EDITIONS
CAMPBELL AWARD WINNER ALEXIS A. GILLILAND'S ROSINANTE TRILOGY
Revolution from Rosinante
Long Shot for Rosinante
Pirates of Rosinante
Janrae Frank - [Lycan Blood 02] - Fireborn Law Page 27