Sword and Mind

10

"Where've you been, Rumah? At that girl's place again?" Ocran stormed.

"Aye, an' what do ya care? Ya're ne'er 'round fur me ta see ya. Doncha think I 'aven't seen ya 'bout wit' those women. Different one e'eryday, is it now?"

"Don't try to put this on me, Rumah. Ever since you met that girl, you've been too good for me."

"She's been teachin' me readin' and writin,' ya fool. T'was supposed ta be a surprise fur ya. I thought ya'd be so 'appy that I'm learnin' me letters, but ya repay me with yer cheatin.'" She came close to hitting Ocran but quickly decided not to. He was not one to get angry.

"A man's got to have it somewhere. Especially when he's married."

Rumah raised her hand and forced it down.

"And what do you need to be learning to read and write for anyway? Don't I provide enough for you? You were doing pretty good with your thieving."

"Aye, a thief and an assassin. Don't we make a fine pair."

His face went crimson as he bellowed, "Get out of here! You ungrateful..."

"Aye, don't be worryin' yerself. I'm gone an' fur good. I don't need ta be messin' wit' the likes of ya." She mumbled curses as she gathered a few trinkets.

"What are you doing? Those I paid for." He moved to stop her.

Her dagger, the weapon Ocran gave her to keep safe, was at his crotch faster than he could register. "Come closer, Ocran. I dare ya. If ya do, I'll make ya wish ya ne'er laid eyes on me. Grasp? Ya know these be me own things afore we even married."

His surprise was genuine, but his anger quickly overcame that first emotion. "Are you threatening me, Rumah? Me?"

She slung her meager pack over her shoulder, blade tip still pressed to his groin. "Oh I'm makin' ya a promise, Ocran. Don't ya doubt. I'm not just that lil' thief ya first met."

"You don't have the guts."

On any rational day, she would have balked at her speaking the way she was to one of the best known assassins in Aysre, but this was not a rational day. Her gaze went as glacial as the winter region she hailed from. "Try me."

Rumah backed her way to the door, not taking her eyes from the dangerous man before her. As soon as she crossed the door, she slammed the dagger, now his, into the wood and left. She could hear Pallu's alarmed concern in her mind. After six months, they still had not figured out how to keep their emotions to themselves, and ever since their first conversations, their emotions became easier for the other to read. Her footsteps took her to the Gardens of Dortra where Pallu was waiting. Anger mounted in Rumah. Couldn't she just be alone?

"Are you alright, Ru?"

"Oh fine. I'm just fine. I'm not married anymore. Me life's just great. An' I can't even be by meself 'cause ya're always knowin' what's in me 'ead."

Pallu crossed her arms in a defiance that Rumah had grown to love and hate. "I'm not going to leave you, Ru. I don't care how you feel. I won't talk to you or try to figure what's in your mind. But I'm not leaving you."

Rumah gave an exasperated growl and stalked further into the garden. When she turned to find Pallu, the irritating girl was not about. Silently she sent out a string of curses into the night mostly to Ocran but also a few to Pallu, who Rumah knew was lurking in the shadows. The thief stole into the comfort of the shadows, hoping to lose her stalker. In a secluded part of the garden, Rumah sat on a shadow-shrouded bench. The moment she was seated tears poured out of her unchecked. Anger rose at the betrayal of her husband...now ex-husband. She realized she should not have threatened him but was glad that she did. It would make him think twice about groveling to her. At this moment, she wanted nothing to do with the back-stabber. How could he cheat on her?! She gave him all of her, and he just threw it away like some unwanted garment. What could she really expect from an hired killer? He was...