Others

      It was not difficult to track down the seemingly ordinary family; soon Kenny knew, where they lived, what roads they traveled, when they were all together. The family was large, nine men, not counting the servants. The Reisses had several homes near Orvud, including a couple farms. Apparently they considered their secret well hidden, so they lived quite openly, without much concern. Two brothers stood out, the older, Rod, and the younger, Uri. A brief observation revealed, that it was the younger one who was the real King, Uri being different from the impulsive Rod. But the way Rod listened to his brother, obeyed him, it was clear who was in charge. If the meeting with Uri Reiss did not change Kenny’s worldview, it tilted it very much. Two unusual things happened at once that day. Kenny Ackerman was scared. Scared, because for the first time he had met someone stronger than himself. He had time to feel the despair of a mistake, time to realize the inevitability of his end. The realization of the irreparable.       He was horrified, too, that the short guy had somehow turned into a titan, protecting himself and his brother. At that moment, the fairy tale told by his grandfather became an unbelievable reality. Then, clutched in the titan’s hand, Kenny gave free rein to his emotions, because he had nothing to lose. But then something extraordinary happened, something that stunned Ackerman even more. Uri let his failed assassin go, not afraid to come closer despite his older brother’s protests. Uri seemed to pity the man in front of him, he didn’t want him dead, the King bowed to the assassin. He was disproportionately stronger than Kenny. Uri didn’t look to violence to solve problems, though he had both opportunity and power.        But he asked Ackerman for forgiveness, and regretted his po-father’s actions. For the first time, Kenny saw a different path, and for the first time in a very long time, he said: “I want to help you.” Uri was able to show Ackerman something with his own light, that was stronger than mere strength, something that struck Kenny to the core. That was the day their friendship began.       The man did not return home until evening, where Kiva was waiting for him, as he had told her to do in the morning. The girl was twisting a leather rope for a new sling as the old one was worn out. When Kenny entered the house, the girl looked up at him and a question froze on her tongue. The Reaper looked shocked, even a little confused. Kiva realized something was seriously wrong, but she didn’t dare ask, what it was. Kenny went to the pantry, took out a bottle of alcohol, and headed to the couch with it. The girl decided to leave him alone with his thoughts, reasoning that later he would tell her what she needed to know. It was two bottles later, from which Kenny drank straight from the neck of the bottle. With an inward-looking gaze, he said to the ceiling: “From this day forward, we’re helping Uri Reiss.”             It sounded so strange, that Kiva still asked a question: “What happened?”       The man answered her, surprisingly, calmly, thoughtfully: “I don’t know, little one,” he shook his head, “but something really did happen.”       That was the end of their conversation. Kenny fell asleep lying on the couch. The girl, who had been waiting for this moment, went upstairs and lay down on the vacant bed. She wondered, what could have so affected the inflexible Ackerman; there was no easy answer.       In the morning, Kiva was already making breakfast, when Kenny got up from the couch. He walked to the kitchen and froze in the passage, resting his head against the doorjamb. “You bet,” the girl grinned to herself. There were four bottles near the couch, when she came downstairs. But despite the headache, Kenny’s eyes were clear. The man sat down at the table, waited for the girl to serve him his food and sit down at the table herself, then he began to speak: “I’m heading to the Reiss estate today, you’re coming with me, but stay unnoticed, there’s no reason for them to know of your existence yet.” “Got it, getting into their big house shouldn’t be too hard. You want me to do something there?” “No, not yet. Even though I don’t trust Rod, I don’t like that pompous bastard.”       They were silent for a moment, and Kiva asked the question she wanted to know: “Why are you going there?” “To find out what to do next.”       The girl refrained from further questions, deciding that she’d figure it out, when the time would come.       In the evening they reached the Reiss family home, and near the stone fence they separated. Kenny’s way led through the door, where he was already been waited, and Kiva’s way was through the window at the back of the house. She had been there several times before, so she knew the layout of the rooms roughly. It was starting to get dark, and that was a good thing, because candles and fireplaces didn’t always light up a space properly, leaving a lot of dark places. Kiva found the three men in the library, sitting at a table and discussing something quite calmly. The room had two floors, and a lot of bookshelves, and the sources of light were a fireplace and a couple of candelabras on the table. She missed the beginning of the conversation, but no big deal, the middle could be interesting too.       Kiva sat down on the floor behind one of the shelves on the second floor and looked down, listening, looking at the faces of the people speaking, noting to herself some changes in them. “Kenny, we found you a job, where you can be useful as well,” Uri was relaxed, a slight smile on his face.       His thought was continued by Rod, who, unlike his brother, was tense and slightly aggressive, but it didn’t bother anyone, but himself. “Our family has enemies and our guards and defenses are not very good, you could help us, if you take care of it. We’ll provide all the support you need, after all Uri accepted you despite everything.”       There was hostility in those words, but a touch of respect at the same time. Kiva could see the look, that besieged Rod’s younger brother, urging restraint. Kenny, on the other hand, out of respect for Uri, was initially calm and tolerant, and ignored some of the attacks in his own direction.        He didn’t care about the words, he cared about Uri’s thoughts, it mattered to him. “Like Rod said, I’d be happy for you to take this on.”       Kenny was silent, pondering. Uri continued: “I’m not asking you to do this, because you’re already a murderer and you’re comfortable doing such dirty work,” Kenny shuddered faintly at those words, “but because this way you can do something good, even people like you are needed in this world, and you can channel that into a common goal.”       Kenny looked uninterrupted into Uri’s eyes, and smiled predatorily: “If you think so, I believe it’s better this way.”       Uri smiled back, there was a friendship between them, and somehow they understood each other, even though they spoke different languages. Kenny was used to speaking the language of violence, while Uri spoke the language of understanding and mercy. Kiva realized this, Uri’s words affected her, she understood, what had changed Kenny’s goals.       Compassion, understanding and mercy from a stronger man, who by the law of nature was supposed to crush the weaker ones. The king continued: “Also, in addition to what Rod said, I want you to be my bodyguard on long journeys.”       Kenny grinned, he wasn’t surprised by that. “You can rest assured there are too many empty holes in your security, since I almost killed you so easily.”       The anguished expression on Rod’s face was joined by a look of confusion, as Uri and Kenny laughed, as if they were the only two, who could make sense of the joke. He didn’t like being neighbors with an assassin from Mitra, but he had some respect for his skills and loyalty to Uri, he couldn’t deny that. When those two had laughed it off, he added: “Tomorrow we expect you at the Royal Government, you are now part of it. Your knowledge could be useful.”       Kenny shrugged indifferently, he didn’t really care. They talked about something of little importance, Kiva didn’t listen, all meaningful conversations were over for the day. She was impressed by Uri’s words, by the meaning he put into them.       She’d never lied to herself, that both she and Kenny were nothing more than the dregs of ordinary life, the part of people, who were not spoken of, pretending their kind didn’t exist. They were the kind of people, who would be wiped off the face of the earth, never given a chance for another life, forced into a struggle, that would bring them to the bottom of humanity. They were different. They could understand their inner beast, and the normal understanding of things was beyond their grasp. But Uri… accepted Kenny, looked at him as an equal, understood his motives, understood his inner pain, didn’t push him away. Gave him a chance for a different place in this life. It was amazing. And mesmerizing. She believed, that such a man could change everything, literally everything. The girl silently left the library, without waiting for a discreet sign from the Reaper, left the big house, and waited for Kenny at the place, where they had parted.        Soon Ackerman was there, and he looked at the girl’s face, which showed confusion and shock, just as he had the day before, and he grinned understandingly. She realized, what had happened, it needed to be understood. “This, little one, is how things are now.” “It’s…” she couldn’t find the words.”       But Kenny understood her perfectly, Uri had put light in them, they were ready to follow Uri’s dream and give themselves to it. But both could not express their confusion in any way; they had only to accept the change in themselves, though it was radically different from anything, that had happened to them before. He walked down the road, saying as he went. “Let’s go home, you’ll have a lot of work to do tomorrow, while I’m at the bastards' meeting.”       Kiva hurried after the man. The stars were visible in the sky, and the girl looked up at the black sky, as if she was seeing the ghostly and cold starlight for the first time.       At the next meeting Ackerman took the place of one nobleman, namely the unlucky Karon. Before going inside, he told Kiva a list of people to know more about, some of them were present at the meeting today, some of them were related to the army. The girl just grabbed her head, listening to the long list and wondering, if she would have time to scour everyone’s offices before tonight. Kenny shrugged indifferently and said: “I don’t expect anything less from you, little one. New field of action, we need to know about the main players.”       He was right, it was necessary, and Kiva began her work. First she visited the offices of those at the meeting, and then the military. Somehow she managed everything, but she was too tired, and in her memory everything, she had read, blended into one mess. At the meeting, Kenny enjoyed the other’s fear, caused by his person. No one in the room had expected such a neighbor. He acted brash and swaggering, but he listened attentively. He was tired of his new role and was glad to go home, where a surprisingly tipsy Kiva was waiting for him.       She was trying to get her thoughts in order, and only waved a hand, when Ackerman came in. He seldom saw his ward at this activity, but his energy was surprisingly lacking. He walked over to the usual sofa and sat down, the girl got up from the chair without saying a word, came over and handed him a glass of wine. He could only be glad, that the girl understood his mood, she had lived with him for a long time. “So, little girl, tell me, what you’ve learned,” he said, taking the glass.       Kiva sat down next to him and suddenly lay down, putting her head on the man’s lap and her feet on the couch. Kenny could see in her eyes, that she was putting her thoughts in a logical order to form a summary. “I’ll start with the most distant, the Scout Corps. Most likely, the current commander, eleventh in command, will be replaced by his deputy, Keith Sadies, a nice guy. Nothing suspicious, he’s dedicated. It’s best for Scouts, as long as there’s no threat from them.” She was silent for a moment, Kenny staring thoughtfully ahead of him, one hand holding a glass, the other stroking the girl’s head.       Kiva continued: “Next is the Garrison, Dot Pyxis is in command there now. He’s a very interesting man, his head is in place, he has his quirks, but they don’t spoil him. He’s not a direct threat either, as he doesn’t interfere in any way with internal politics. As long as he stays within the bounds of his duties.” “That’s good, I hear he’s sneaky.”       The girl nodded in agreement and continued: “Next are our old acquaintances, the Military Police. Head Djel Sannes, since he was at the meeting, he knows about the Reisses, he’s loyal to them, though he’s not very smart. By the way, you killed a lot of his men.” “Whatever, he’ll have to live with that, but what about the Commander-in-Chief, he just took over?” “That’s right, Dhalis Zachary,” Kiva grumbled, “he’s certainly smart and calculating, but…” Kenny looked interested: “But what?” “He’s a sick bastard, I’d stay away from him. Some of the sketches of his…mechanisms,” she shook her head. “Are disgusting to say the least.”       Kenny sipped his wine, hummed: “Well, at least someone interesting, but what about the others on the council?”       Next, Kiva told about the representative of the Order of the Walls, Jarnach, who was coughing so hard from Kenny’s strong cigarettes, about the measure of Stohess, about a couple of noblemen. They were united by their knowledge of the real King of the Wall, and together they made up the Government. All of them were loyal to the Reisses, or at least they’d yet to find out the opposite. Kenny finished his glass, twirled it in his hand. “Unusual, isn’t it, working for the other side?”       The girl nodded silently, very unfamiliar. The hand on her head squeezed her hair a little painfully. “Don’t forget, I work for myself, not for anyone else.” “I know, and I work for you.” “Good girl, bring more wine.”       In general, nothing had changed in their way of life, except that now their efforts were focused on Uri’s dream, which Kenny had accepted. Working for the government had many advantages: fewer enemies, easier to act, more money, more opportunities. The house was filled with expensive things, real meat appeared on the table a couple times. The girl had never tasted meat before in her life. Now most of what they did was legal, and there was no fear of persecution, but neither Kenny’s nor Kiva’s instincts were dulled. Yes, Uri had a dream of Paradise, that Ackerman wanted to follow, but the world around him didn’t change from that. He was even given access to a court, that taught him how to operate the ODMG. Some of the policemen looked at them askance, but they could do nothing. As expected: Kenny had succeeded from the first time, which was not the case with Kiva. She was good at balancing, but when it came to using the gear itself.       She fell, hit, hit something, hit something again and fell again, to the laughter of Ackerman, who had no such difficulty. By the end of the day she had more or less learned to control the gear. Kenny had long since removed the harness and device, and watched Kiva’s attempts to maneuver on the pad. Flying wasn’t something she enjoyed, she trusted her legs more. Often Kenny led the slaughters, sometimes he took part in them himself. Sometimes he accompanied Uri on infrequent trips, Kiva shadowing them. It had become their job. Even Rod had come to terms with the presence of an assassin near his younger brother. The peaceful pace of life was interrupted by an assassination attempt on Uri. A rather unfortunate one, Kenny killed his attacker without much thought. He didn’t want to risk letting him live to get information, he was too close to Uri. A strange letter had been found in the man’s house, and there was every reason to think, it was directly related to the failed assassination attempt.       In the evening, Kenny sat in the Reiss library with brothers, discussing the incident. Kiva was habitually seated on the second floor. The strange yellow paper was visible from here, and each of them had a glass of something in front of them, Rod sitting with his hands clasped together, gloomy. “We haven’t been able to find out, where that man got this from,” he pointed to the letter: “and we need to find out, who’s behind it, fast.”       Kenny listened silently, Uri looked a little depressed. He didn’t like the violence, and was saddened by what was happening, but at the same time he knew, it would be hard to do without it. Ackerman was thinking about something, tapping his fingers on the table, finally breaking the silence, speaking in a commanding tone: “Hey, little one, come here, take a look at this.”       Kiva flinched, there was something odd about him deciding to call her out now. She hesitantly stepped out of the shadows, where she usually hid from other people’s eyes.       Both Uri and Rod were surprised and even startled, that there was someone in the room besides them. The girl walked down the stairs, looking at the people around her with slight disbelief: “It is unusual to feel so many stares on me.”       She walked over to the chair, where Kenny was sitting, stopping. Without raising his eyes to her, he asked: - Have you seen this anywhere?       The girl glanced at the scribbled sheet, took it, turned it over, twirled it, felt it, put it back. Kiva crossed her arms and tilted her head up, her lips moving as if she were reading answers from the ceiling. “I saw something similar, about two months ago. In the files of Milius Jarnach, the one representing the Order of the Walls on the council.”       Rod took his hands off the table, tensed, and Uri leaned forward: “Are you sure, you remember exactly?”       Kiva nodded, and Rod asked with a hint of contempt: “So you snuck into his house and no one noticed you?” “Well,” she gave him an indifferent look: “either nobody notices me, or everybody notices me, but they’re all conspiring to keep quiet. In which case this performance has gone on long enough.”       Rod was quite satisfied with that answer. He didn’t like Kenny, and now this girl as well, but he recognized their experience in this sort of thing. Uri was slightly uncomfortable, they were all sitting while the girl stood, but he didn’t know, how to act.       Kenny put his glass on the table, but clinked it once before doing so. It caught the girl’s attention immediately, and she didn’t show it, but prepared to listen to the order: “Wait by the exit, we’re going to be here a long time.”       Though nothing specific was said out loud, she realized, what Kenny wanted her to do. She nodded and said. “I got it.”        She left the room through the door on the first floor of the library. Since they were there for the long haul, it was time to pay a visit in the Rod’s study, he had gotten a little too nervous, when Millius' name came up. It hadn’t escaped her or Kenny, and needed checking, while they were all busy.