Kuroba Asashin's Arc

Chapter 30 of 44

By late afternoon the palace steps had cleared. Kuroba stood at the great door and watched the last of the crowd move inside. Tish had already gone to the kitchens. Ona had taken a station at the east wall and would not leave it until dark. A rider came up the road from the west and swung down at the bottom step. It was Jackie, his ribs bound tight, his mechanical eye catching the low sun. Bobby had let him ride out alone. Kuroba met him at the base of the stairs and did not speak first. "I want the job," Jackie said. He kept his hand off his sword. "Knight of this house. Head of the militia. Whatever you call it." Kuroba looked at how he stood. The weight was even. The shoulders were down. The shame Kuroba had once read in the boy was gone from the frame. "You are still hurt," Kuroba said. Jackie shrugged. "I heal walking." Kuroba thought about the wall Tish would need held while she learned the halls. He thought about Ona alone on the east rail. He nodded once. "Come inside. Tish decides the title. I decide the training." They found Tish in a side room off the kitchens, sorting a stack of ledgers a clerk had left on the table. She looked up when Jackie came through the door. She did not smile, but she set the ledger down. "You rode out with cracked ribs," she said. "I did," Jackie said. "I brought him," Kuroba said. "He wants the gate." Tish looked at Kuroba, then at Jackie. "Then he has it," she said. "Militia answers to him. He answers to me on the ground and to Kuroba on the blade." She turned to Jackie. "Rest tonight. Start at dawn." Jackie dipped his chin. "Yes ma'am." Tish's mouth moved, almost a smile. "Don't call me that." Kuroba walked the halls until the lamps were lit and the last bowl had gone out of the kitchen. When he passed the corridor to Tish's chambers he heard the door close behind Jackie. He did not stop. He set his back against the far wall and listened for a long moment. Low voices. A laugh he had not heard from Tish before. Then quiet. Jackie was with Tish in her room. They spent the rest of the night together in private. Kuroba had left. The palace had a knight now.