Taking Flight

“I don’t know,” he said. “I guess you’ll just have to trust us.”

“Why should I?”

Up until this point, Asha had spoken in a rational and fairly adult manner, despite her diminutive size and voice, but now her voice cracked, and she was obviously on the verge of tears.

“Because we didn’t do it,” Kelder told her. “Honestly, we didn’t.”

“Well, then, who did?” Asha demanded. “I was following Abden, but they were on their horses and I couldn’t keep up, and when I got there they were all dead, and you two were standing there arguing right in the middle, and I watched and I followed and I never saw anybody there but you two...”

Her voice broke completely, and she began to sniffle.

Kelder tried to think of something comforting to say, but before he could, Irith asked, “What would you do if it were us?”

Asha’s tears suddenly stopped, and her face twisted in anger. She reached down under the table and came up with a knife — an ordinary belt knife, not any sort of fighting knife, but quite capable of doing serious damage.

Kelder grabbed her wrists, both of them.

“We didn’t kill anybody,” he insisted. “We were walking behind a caravan, and the bandits attacked it, and rode right into a trap — there was a demonologist there, and I don’t know much about magic, but he had demons appearing out of nowhere in less than a minute, so it must have been all set up in advance, it can’t be that easy to summon them.”

Asha stared up at him and said nothing.

“The caravan went on, and so did we, and we must have just gotten to the... the dead when you got there, so you saw us there — but it wasn’t us, we didn’t kill anybody.”

“What caravan?” Asha said, fighting back sobs. “I didn’t see any caravan!”

“Drop the knife, girl,” Larsi’s voice said, and the tip of a sword suddenly thrust up against Asha’s throat.

The three travelers looked up, startled.

Larsi was standing over them with a laden tray, and beside her stood a young man with a naked sword. The young man was thin and pimply and had his sword against Asha’s neck.

Asha stared, and refused to move; Kelder released one wrist and took the knife away from her. She didn’t resist.

He threw the weapon on the table, and told Larsi, “It’s nothing, really. She’s just upset.”

Larsi glared, then gestured.

The sword was withdrawn from Asha’s throat.

“Fine friends you bring in here, Irith,” Larsi said, in a voice that dripped scorn.

Irith shrugged and grinned. “Just a little harmless excitement,” she said. “Traveling can be so boring!”

“I like it boring,” Larsi said. She waved an arm at the other customers, and for the first time Kelder realized they were all staring at the little group at the end of the table. “My customers like it boring. They don’t like kids screaming and people yelling and blades being drawn, any more than I do. Now, if you three can keep it boring, you can stay, but if there’s any more excitement, out!”

“Yes, Larsi,” Irith said, ducking her head in a sort of nod.

“Agreed, mistress,” Kelder said.

Asha glared.

Larsi glared back, and at last the little girl broke and said, “All right, I promise.”

“Good,” Larsi said.

The young man sheathed his sword and left, while Larsi lowered the tray, displaying three plates of stew, three mugs, and a few other implements.

When Larsi had served out the contents of the tray and departed Kelder took a good look around the room, which showed him that, except for an occasional nervous glance, the other customers had returned to their own affairs.

Thus reassured, he turned to Asha and said, “All right, now, tell us the whole story. What were you doing out there following your brother? Why was he a bandit in Angarossa, if you’re from Amramion?”

Asha was shoveling stew into her mouth with a wooden spoon, and Kelder realized that she probably hadn’t eaten all day. He waited until she paused before repeating his questions.

“Amramion isn’t exactly the other side of the World from here,” Asha retorted. “Two days ago I was still living at home.”

Kelder frowned. “All right, then,” he said, “why aren’t you living at home now?”

“Because I came after Abden.”

“But why? Aren’t you a bit young to be out on your own?”

Asha hesitated. She studied Kelder’s face, and then Irith’s. “I ran away,” she said.

“Go on,” Kelder said.

“I ran away,” she repeated, “and I didn’t have anywhere else to go, I didn’t have any family or friends to stay with, except Abden.”

“And he was one of those bandits?”

She nodded. “He ran away last year,” she said, “and he didn’t know where else to go, so he went east, and he got stopped by bandits, and he didn’t have any money, and he wasn’t worth any ransom, but he was big and strong and knew how to fight, so they let him join. He sent me a message and told me about it.”

“And then they all got killed today,” Kelder said.

Asha nodded again and sniffled.

“But what were you doing?”

“I ran away the day before yesterday,” she said. “I couldn’t... I mean, I wanted to see Abden and stay with him. I found him this morning, and he said that I couldn’t stay there, that they didn’t have any way to take care of me, but I hung around and tried to think of something, because I couldn’t go back home. And then the scout came back and said a caravan was coming, so they all rode out to meet it, and I ran after them, but when I got there they were all dead, and you two were there and nobody else was, and I didn’t know what to do, so I followed you.”

She looked up at him. “And here we are,” she said.

He looked down at her. “How old are you, Asha?” he asked.

She frowned. “Not sure,” she said. “Nine, I think.”

Not sure? Kelder started at that. How could she not know how old she was?

He pushed that aside and said, “Nine’s too young to be out on your own.”

“I know that,” she said. “That’s why I came to stay with Abden!” She sniffled. “And he’s gone now.”

“So shouldn’t you go home, then?” Irith asked.

“No,” Asha said flatly.

Kelder looked at Irith, who shrugged, tossing her hair delightfully.

“What are you going to do, then?” Kelder asked.

Asha looked down at the table. “I don’t know,” she whispered.

“What would you like to do?” Irith asked.

The child looked up again. “I’d like to find that caravan and kill everybody in it! They killed my brother, and he wasn’t going to hurt anybody!”

“You don’t know that,” Kelder said. “Or at least they didn’t know that. And he was going to rob them, wasn’t he? That might well hurt them; they make their livings trading, they could starve.”

Asha glared at him and said nothing.

“Being a bandit is a dangerous business,” Kelder pointed out. “Your brother must have known that.”

She turned away.

“Killing them wouldn’t help your brother any, you know.”

“Nothing can help him now,” Asha said bitterly. “He won’t even get a decent funeral.”