Dragon Kin

21

Alicja

Inside the gates, after being bowed to by the gate guards, the road was wide enough for two wagons to pass by each other. That was handy because just beyond the road, after the span of a narrow sidewalk, there were stone walls. Shear stone walls, three stories high. Roads branched off blocks, and more stone and more walls followed.

We seemed to be taking the 'uphill' route which made sense, if we were going to the top. That's where most Keeps and Castles were kept, right? At the top of things?

There were a lot of people following us now. That bow the gate guards gave us confirmed us as people of interest. I looked behind us, but I couldn't count that many without being rude.

"We're being followed," I said.

"Are we?" he said, without looking around.

"You knew that," I said.

"Yes, of course. My hearing and nose told me that some time ago," he said and gave me a grin.

"You really can smell that well? To tell if it's one or several people?" I asked.

"I can tell you take B-vitamins. And you eat a lot of tomatoes. Spaghetti sauce perhaps?"

"I like Italian," I said with a shrug. "So, you're not worried about this?" I asked, motioning to the growing crowd behind us. "And you've only been gone two months?"

"I... well, to the first question, no. Why be worried? They just want to watch. Who knows, I might actually get the whipping this time. Never can tell. Right?"

He struck me as having a history along those lines. Like this wasn't the first time a crowd was hoping for that. Like it came from a real experience. Eeek.

"Please tell me you aren't serious," I groaned.

"To the second question," he said, ignoring my plea, "yes, only about two months. Maybe a few days after. I'll have to look at a calendar."

"You haven't been counting the days to getting your revenge?" I asked.

"Revenge? No, I'm not after revenge. I want to keep it from happening again. I want those men in jail for the crime if the judge says so, exiled if he doesn't. I want to keep them from coming across. I want it to be a legal obligation. Humans never cross for good reasons. It's always pillage, murder or rape. They're always driven by bizarre myths and Catholic gods."

By the time he reached the end of that minor rant, he was sounding a little viscous. I bit my lip, and thought about what he was trying to say.

He slowed a little, "It's a matter of ethics," he said after a bit, his voice calmer. "Not morals."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

He stopped and put his hands on his hips, his eyes looking at the ground— it was really a good look for him. Every eye waited — then he said, "Ethics are a choice. They're the law. We have them because we made them up. We know that. They are man made. We all agree to them because it's better for all — rather than to have it normal to act otherwise. For example, we all agree that I shouldn't be allowed to just hit anyone I passed on the street. Right?" He looked back over the crowd, his hands and arms in the 'am I right' expression towards them.

A lot of them nodded their heads in agreement. Many of them were seriously involved with our discussion as well.

I nodded my head as well, "Sure. Because if that's normal, if we're allowed to just hit people, we'll never be able to build trust bonds or do business."