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He’d tasted nothing like it and sucked on every piece before he chewed. “Can I have more, sir?”
“Call me Silas, save the ‘sir’ for the people who deserve the title, not that I’ve met one yet. You’ll be sick if you eat too much too soon. You can have more in the morning. I am speaking from experience.”
Peter’s voice sounded in Scab’s head. Nobody gives no one fuck all for nothin’, you wanna watch out if someone just gives you stuff. “What do you want from me?”
“I want nothing from you. I would like to offer you an opportunity.” Silas paused and placed a log on the fire. “As a child, I lived in the slums of a city called Daal. Have you heard of it?”
“No.”
“It’s far to the south of here. After our mother died, my brothers and I had nothing. We stole what we could to survive. The Wane got my older brother, the guards killed the younger. Those same guards were to kill me, but I was saved. A man killed them and took me to the Shadow Forest, where I was trained to become like him. Where you… if you wish… could become one of us too.”
“Become what?”
“An assassin.”
“What’s that?”
“We kill those who deserve to die. Like the man in the alleyway.”
“I don’t wanna kill anyone.”
“We do not want to kill anyone.” Silas rose, draped a blanket over Scab’s shoulders, and returned to his place. “But we do so to make the world a better place.”
“Why d’you kill that Wretch?”
“He was a rapist.”
“What’s that?”
“He had sex with people without their permission.”
“There’s a lot of Wretches in the Spring. Are you gonna kill ’em all?”
“No, we only kill those we are paid to kill.”
Scab moved closer to the fire, yawned, and lay down.
“In a few days when you feel able, I can return you to Talon if you wish.”
Scab closed his eyes. “I don’t wanna go back there.”
“You don’t have to.”
“Where’s the Shadow Forest?” Scab whispered, the warmth of the fire making his whole body feel heavy.
“A few days’ ride away.”
“I’m… sleep…”
Scab kicked out as he startled awake. He’d dreamt of the Wretch.
“Okay, boy?” Silas said.
Silas’s voice made him feel safe, like Peter’s used to, and he fell back to sleep.
Scab recovered quickly. He’d eaten and slept better in the last five days than he ever had. He took short walks and enjoyed feeding grass to Vala. The mountain air smelt so clean.
“Maybe I’ll have a horse of my own one day, like you,” Scab said to Vala, stroking her neck. He held another handful of grass to her lips. He liked the sound it made as she chewed it. “Do you see things slowly sometimes?” He didn’t expect her to answer. He knew animals couldn’t talk. I wonder if she understands me? “I don’t like it when it happens. It feels horrible. I don’t think it happens to other people. Maybe I’ll ask Silas if it happens to him. Should I? I don’t want him to think I’m weird.”
