The Blind Swordmaster Took In His Own Assassin novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: The Boy's Terms

"It's a chicken's," Ra-on said.

"It isn't a chicken's."

Dong-ju stood at the well with the rope in one fist and his practice sword in the other.

He was a head taller than Ra-on and had no business looking that steady.

"I've killed chickens."

"I've killed six pigs."

"I know what blood smells like on this rope, Brother Ra-on, and it didn't come from a bird."

"Put the sword down."

"No."

The sun was barely over the ridge, and the boy's knuckles were white.

"You came to the gate with four knives and a story about rice."

"You sleep in his bed and you wake up smelling of iron."

"If you're going to hurt him, I want to hear you say it before I have to hit you."

Ra-on had faced forty-one people with blades in their hands.

None of them had looked at him the way this thin boy did, with his teeth set and his eyes shining.

"I'm not here to hurt him," Ra-on said.

It was the first true thing he had said to the boy, and it cost him nothing.

Then he lied.

"There was a man from my old life."

"I worked for bad people, and I left them, and they sent someone."

"I killed him."

"More will come."

The sword wavered.

"Is that all of it?"

"That's all I can tell you."

"Why should I believe a word?"

"Because I'm still here," Ra-on said.

"I could have walked off this mountain and left you all in the dark."

"Instead I'm standing at your well in front of a boy with a stick."

"It's a sword."

"It's a stick."

Dong-ju nearly smiled.

Then the smile died, and he lowered the blade, and Ra-on saw how scared he had been.

"He slept last night," Dong-ju said.

"I got up to check the gate, and he was lying in the bathhouse with you in his arms, and he was asleep, Brother Ra-on."

"Properly."

"He was snoring."

Ra-on swallowed.

"I found him at Moonrise Pass," said the boy.

"I was seventeen."

"I was sent to carry water, and I carried him."

"He didn't speak for three weeks."

"He's still not all the way back."

"I know," Ra-on said.

"So here are my terms."

"You have terms?"

"I have terms," Dong-ju said gravely.

"Keep him alive, and you can stay."

"Stay as long as you want."

"I'll cover for you with the old man at the market, and I'll help bury whatever you need buried, and I'll never say a word."

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