Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 7)

Ada frowned at her, then decided she didn't care enough to push it. "Fine," she said simply.

Ky was grateful. She knew she'd been caught. But she didn't want to tell her the truth. She couldn't tell her the truth. And she was glad they could just awkwardly drop it rather than her having to have direct conflict in telling her that she wasn't going to answer honestly. "...Anyhow, he's nicer than he seems. Just very solemn."

"I guess he's got good reason to be, if the stories are true. Like I said before, some of my family thinks he's half-mad."

Ky nodded. "He's definitely been through some terrible things. I can't fault him."

"So all that stuff about his brother is true?" Ada shivered. She'd heard very few stories, but she knew enough to know that the previous Lord Ash wouldn't have been nearly so accommodating to her and the other ex-slaves.

"I think so," Ky murmured quietly. "I've tried not to ask too many questions because it's painful for Tomhas to talk about, and I'm fairly certain it'd be easier to get a stone wall to be emotionally vulnerable with you than Gaius... but... I've heard some stories. And he was definitely horrific. Worse than Aleth by far, which I didn't know was possible."

"And how bad was Aleth?" Ada asked, wary of bringing up Ky's tormentor.

Ky hesitated for a long moment. Ada would know she was lying if she tried to soften it. But she also clearly had no patience for Ky's rambling. So what was both brief and true? She picked at the hem of her shirt, considering just pulling it up and showing Ada. That'd be the fastest way. And yet she was still embarrassed.

"He raped me when he visited Makata," she settled for, not looking at her. Her face was drawn and her voice passive. "Once we were on the road, I ended up punching him -- which he definitely deserved -- and he beat me so much I couldn't stand. And then he carved my abdomen with a knife. I've got flowers scarred all across it."

She gestured at the arc the scars took up her left side.

"He flogged me for lying to him. Which was effective, I guess. I didn't lie to him again after that." She was quiet for a moment. "The cuts and the flogging were probably the worst for me, though the beatings were constant." She shrugged. "He was an asshole."

Ada was silent for a long time, shocked. She hadn't expected that much detail at all. This man sounded terrible, terrible, terrible. Like someone one of her tribe might have known at some point. Anger bubbled up in her on Ky's behalf, and she clenched her fists.
"Is he still alive?" she asked quietly.

"No." Ky shook her head. "Tomhas caught Aleth trying to kill me, so he killed him instead." She shuddered. "It was very bloody."

"Good," Ada said grimly. "I'm sorry I asked." She had no idea how anyone could be worse than what Ky had described. He sounded even worse than Tarr, as strange as that felt to think.

"It's fine." Ky shook her head. "I'm sorry if I shared too much... I just... I feel like I shouldn't talk about what Tomhas and Gaius went through. What was told to me was done so in confidence. But it seems worse than Aleth. And, well... now you know what that means."

"I guess I do." She shivered. "I'm glad I never met either of them."

"Me too," Ky agreed. She was glad neither of them had had the misfortune of meeting Michael, and she was happy that Ada had never had to deal with Aleth. Although Aleth did a good job of putting on a pleasant public persona, so he probably wouldn't have hurt Ada even if they had met.

"I'm sorry for your father and uncle," she decided. "Nobody should have to deal with that sort of person."