Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 6)

Zander considered for a moment. “I expect you were the first person to show him kindness in the past six hundred years.”

“That’s what Gaius said, too,” Ky said, glancing at him.

Gaius nodded in agreement. "She has the fur as well. I'm sure if she likes, she can show it to you.",

Ky gasped softly, grinning and nodding her head, excited that she finally got to tell Zander. She’d been trying to protect him. But it was exciting that she got to tell him now. “It’s so nice!”

“What’s it from?” Zander asked.

“A white bear.”

Zander’s eyebrows shot up. And so did Pratik’s. What kind of a creature could take down a white bear, then turn around and befriend an adolescent girl?

“He said it ate a woman and a child so he chased it three days to kill it,” Ky explained. “And he hurt his hooves in the process so he asked me to help and I gave him my poultice.” She gestured at her arm. “And he said it helped and offered to give me the fur so that’s why he came back because it’s basically as heavy as I am I’m pretty sure.”

"It's quite large, as you can imagine." Gaius leaned back. "It was a generous gift."

"No doubt," Zander agreed with a nod. That would be very expensive to purchase. Although he did doubt that Marrow Man would have done anything at all with it if not donate it to Ky. What did a goat have need of a fur for? "As is having Marrow Man himself promise to protect you for life."

"His name is Ruh," Ky said firmly.

Zander blinked at her. "Ruh?"

"Ruh... well, that's all he can remember 'cause everyone's mean to him and just insult him instead of using his name," Ky said. "But it starts with Ruh. He has a name."

"Alright... Ruh," Zander agreed, somehow taken even more off guard by that.

"If you two have any idea what Northern names that might lead to, I'm open to suggestions," Gaius said dryly. "There are a great many that start with 'r', so I've been struggling."

“I… would have to think about it,” Zander said thoughtfully, scratching his chin. “I would very much like to meet this fellow.”

“As would I,” Pratik agreed.

Ky hesitated, looking between the two of them, and then at Gaius, then back at Zander. “I mean… I could ask… but I’m not sure he’d want to.”

“Mm?” Zander asked.

“I mean… no offense to any of you,” she did a quick glance around, even including Emery this time even though she didn’t wait to see how he was reacting. She looked back at Zander. “I know none of you would hurt Ruh, now that you know he’s nice to me. But he has no way of knowing that. And, well, no offense,” she repeated again. “But it’s generally less likely for a teenage girl to try to stab you than it is a grown man. It’s probably easier for him to trust me more than he would you. No offense.”

She had personally seen Zander kill someone, and Gaius had, too, in that same moment. Not to mention all the assassinations she’d watched Pratik get hired to do. She was in a room full of men who had killed people before, none of whom seemed to be sorry in the least.

Besides, even if she hadn’t known that about them, she still would be less likely to trust them. Of all the people who had ever hurt her in this life, all of them had been grown men. She was sure the same was true of Ruh.

"And I would strongly advise you all--even order you--not to breathe a single word of this to another living soul," Gaius said, glancing in particular at Pratik. "The Marrow Man is not to be trifled with, even if he does favor Ky."

"I don't take my orders from you," Zander said, wanting to make it abundantly clear that this choice was his, not Gaius's. "But I also don't run my mouth."

"Me, either," Pratik agreed. His pride wanted to second Zander's sentiment that this was his decision, not Gaius's pressure, that was going to keep his mouth from running. But, then, he supposed he did, currently, take his orders from Gaius. "There's nothing to be gained by trying to track down something that could almost certainly kill you, for no reason. Only way I'd want to meet Marrow Man--"

"Ruh," Ky interrupted.

"Ruh," Pratik corrected himself. "Is if Ky gave me the go-ahead. I'm not going to go after him and I'm not going to tell anyone -- they'd think me a liar, even if I did." He hesitated, looking back at Ky. "I'm not calling you you a liar -- I believe every word you just said. But, I, uh, have a bit of a reputation."

"You do," Ky agreed. A reputation for being lethal, but also of running his mouth. Not in the sharing-secrets sort of way, so much as gloating and exaggerating his skills.

Pratik laughed at that.

(The goat-ahead)

Gaius glanced at Ky. The stag had been thrown over the wall as he'd ordered and he could only assume the Marrow Man had taken it, but he wanted her to be the one to tell them if he was close, and only if she wanted to.

(booo)

Ky glanced at Gaius, wondering what his glance had meant. Was there something else that she was forgetting? She felt so free to be telling Zander all of this, and, she supposed, Pratik, too.

Pratik scratched his chin. "Huh... that's something else. You've got a whole pack of bodyguards at this point."

Himself included.

Ky smiled at that.

"I wonder how he's planning to know who may or may not pose a threat to you," Pratik mused, leaning back. "Surely he's not planning to kill everyone that even approaches the Keep?"

Ky hesitated. She didn't know that for sure, but she would like to think not.

"So does he have a Type he'll be hunting?" Pratik continued on, glancing at Zander. "'Cause the two of us would fit that bill, if so."

The bottom dropped out of Ky's stomach and she looked at them with wide eyes. What if Ruh killed Zander when he was leaving? Or even if he didn't kill him then, what if he killed him when he was coming back to fetch her? What if--? "This is why you can't leave!"

Zander blinked at her. "Ky, I can't just stay here for the rest of my life."

"You can't leave until I know he's not going to hurt you," she said firmly, desperately searching for a compromise that they'd agree to. "What if... what if, uh, one of you? Comes out with me? 'Cause Ruh won't hurt you if you're with me, and you could make sure no human hurts me or whatever if you think they may have followed us. But I can introduce you and ask him to protect you, too."

"Wait a moment." Gaius sat up a bit straighter, alarmed. "Is that really wise? What if he mistakes them for threats immediately? Do you really think he'll wait if he thinks you're in danger? He wouldn't hesitate to end them, Ky." He thought for a moment. "Perhaps you should meet with him face to face and keep Zander or Pratik behind the walls. Emery and I can keep watch with crossbows and clear the watch from that area while you talk, then if he consents, you bring them out."

Ky thought for a moment, then nodded. "That's a better idea."

She'd only suggested her own because she hadn't thought any of them would consent to her leaving the Keep on her own. But if they were safe and near?

"I'm not sure how I feel about you intentionally going out by yourself to meet the--" Zander started.

"Ruh," she corrected before he could even call him the Marrow Man.

"Ruh," Zander conceded with a sigh. "He's still very dangerous."

"Not to me," she said firmly. "He promised."

Zander rubbed his face. For someone who'd just told Ada that she didn't trust anyone, Ky was being awful quick to trust the word of a monster from old.

"If we're all vigilant, things will be fine," Gaius said firmly. "We'll keep Ky safe, if she needs it."

Ky nodded in agreement. She doubted they'd be able to stop Ruh if he tried to hurt her -- he couldn't be killed. If a white bear couldn't stop him, could a crossbow? Probably not. But she kept that thought to herself. He wasn't going to try to hurt her. She was sure of it.

"Do you have a deer?" Ky asked, looking back at Gaius. He'd promised. But they'd only been here less than a day at this point, so she wouldn't blame him if arrangements hadn't been made, yet. "Then he could have food and company."

Zander looked at her in silence, conflicted. He glanced at Pratik, who was equally as conflicted. They were both desperately curious to meet this creature. Or, at the very least, see him for themselves. But using Ky as human bait didn't sit well with either of them.