Quote Originally Posted by Ramil
8

The wooden pavilion turned out to be a stone castle on the inside. The huge hall reminded Kay of the churches of the One Will where he was taken to in his childhood and stirred some obscure sense of trembling and aversion in him. His legs were sinking in the dry thatch that covered the floor. The arched ceiling turned the rustle of thatches and the sound of his steps into a steady noise.
Curtis Van Curtis was sitting by a round table aggressively hacking/cutting a slab of fried meat. Seeing Kay he rose up a little:
“Have a seat, Kay! Out of respect for your morning deeds we have bear’s meat today.
Kay smiled unintentionally and sat by the table. He had no doubt that Curtis had watched the training… he was only interested in whether it was indeed a timer/the watch on the bulrathi’s hand or it was Curtis’s signal that had averted the bloodshed.
“Did you like your instructor?”
“I’ve never thought the Bulrathi could die out of/die from ecstasy.”
“The sigmoid gland, isn’t it? Yes they die in ecstasy… if the blow is strong enough to penetrate the fell (fur ? hair ?). It’s all about the hormones… The old bear didn’t tell you that he has an implanted steel plate that covers the sigmoid gland beside (behind ?) the fat. Otherwise some of his trainees would surely have him killed. And that blow in the liver that he likes so much! It is an invention of his and god only knows how many human prisoners had died/prisoners were killed before he polished his skill… Have a wine, Kay.”
Kay looked at the bottle with a pale blue liquid in it and shook his head.
“Let me have yours instead, Curtis. I do care about my liver now.”
“Be my guest, Kay.”
Kay sipped a yellow viscous liquid and nodded. Yes it was a good vintage…
“Curtis, is my trainer really that old?”
“The bulrathi? Yes, he did participate in the Feud War. He’s of my age. Their religion forbids the aThan… but this race lives long even without it.”
“I know much about that war. They were allied with the Sakkra and were suppressing our planetary bases. If they weren’t there the Sakkra wouldn’t have lived till the Three Sisters' conflict.”
“Kay, don’t rake over old grudges. Your world has been burnt by the big white frogs and not by the big brown bears. I don’t demand that you love your instructor but you need training. There will be one more day of training and starting from tomorrow you’re going to start rehearsing the legend with my son. Here he is, by the way…”
Kay turned. From the opened door with the sea and the sunlight beyond it, there was walking/in walked Arthur Van Curtis, his client.
His fate.
Arthur was about twelve… biologically, Kay corrected himself. He was a swarthy, dark haired adolescent and his face was so familiar that Kay remembered pain. A very strong pain caused by the algopistol.
Kay was lucky that Van Curtis didn’t look at his face at that moment. He was smiling looking at his only heir although the immortals probably have no need for heirs. For a very long time Kay had been learning to survive so the grimace on his face held for no more than a second.
“Hi, dad” said Curtis junior. “How do you do, Kay? I suppose you’re the toughest guard in the world. Will you be able to protect me?”
Now when Arthur Curtis was nearby the similarity had dissolved. He was a bit younger than the boy that had killed him on Cailis. A little bit, but it was enough for his age. His clothing, a training suit made of green silk came from the best couturier/fashion designer and it had not been pressed out of the recycled plastics at a factory. Despite the fact that he was younger he was noticeably sturdier and had more developed muscles because he had the money behind him and the money meant the best food, the best exercise equipment, trainers and masseurs. Moreover, his gaze bore no hollow hatred of the hunted animal but ironclad confidence and imperiousness instead.
“I know that I’m not in my best shape, everything turned out not exactly as it had been planned,” Arthur continued, “I have drowned recently, I’m sorry. So, will you take the job?”
Curtis senior made a wry smile. Kay stood and stepped towards Arthur. Yes, he was younger, yes, he was sturdier, and yes, he had another kind of gaze. But everything else didn’t change.
“Do you know what a bodyguard is?” asked Kay praying that his voice remained steady and unemotional.
“Of course.”
“Get down!”
Arthur continued standing and looking at Kay. Kay knocked him down.
“If I say get down then you must get down,” said Kay over the lying boy, “if I say jump – you jump because I would never say that for no particular reason except for today. Every time your life will depend on it. Jump!”
Curtis junior jumped. Right from the floor and froze before Kay.
“You shouldn’t beat my son,” said Van Curtis from behind his back. And Kay sensed very clearly that there was a gun pointed right between his blade bones.
“Mister Van Curtis,” said Kay without turning around, “you need a real bodyguard. I am ready to work for you. But in a couple of days I might have no time to push Arthur aside from the line of fire. If I can I would shield him. But it would be better that he simply got down allowing me to shoot. Do you agree? By the way I didn’t beat him. I pushed him. These are the different things.”
“Perhaps.” Van Curtis answered in a level voice. “Sit down, both of you.”
“Dad, Kay is a good bodyguard.” said Arthur flopping onto a chair beside his father and starting to dangle his feet just as if nothing had happened. “He’s tough.”
“Arthur!” said Curtis with a slight surprise. Kay sniffed and started on the bear’s meat.
“I had a great hunt today,” Arthur continued with excitement, “killed that tiger.”
“My congratulations,” Curtis answered sourly.
“Dad, can one eat them?”
“Whom, the tigers? Only liver… I think.”
“Yuck! That’s disgusting. I won’t eat it. Make them bring another tiger, all right?”
“I will, calm down Arthur.”
Kay was drinking his wine and enjoying the situation. He liked this castle that was hidden within a wooden pavilion. He liked the nervousness of Curtis senior.
“Do you know Kay that by legend this castle belonged to King Arthur.” said Curtis somewhat hastily, “And the table we’re sitting at is that very Round Table. I presented this castle to Arthur on his birthday…”
“I have heard neither of King Arthur nor of the Round Table” answered Kay.
“An ancient legend,” Curtis seemed revived, “it was even before the first interstellar travel…”
“Dad, it is pure nonsense, there isn’t enough room for one hundred and fifty fighters at this table. Not to mention their armor. But the story is quite beautiful, there were many characters. And there was even Kay as a secondary character.”
For a moment he and Kay looked at each other. Then Arthur rose from the table and kissed Curtis in his cheek.
“I’ll be going, dad…I don’t want to eat…”
Kay waited until Arthur had left and only then allowed himself to burst into laughter looking at the appalled Curtis.
“What’s the matter, Kay?” he asked wearily.
“I liked your son, Curtis. He’s an ordinary twelve year old kid. We’ll work fine together.”
“I hope you are joking,” Curtis allowed himself to relax a bit, “he is a smart young man but the shock from his first death has not yet worn out completely. Besides, you were right about the hormones. I have consulted with the doctors: a slight infantilism in behavior should have appeared.”
Kay nodded. He was walking along the edge and he knew that. Arthur Van Curtis who, as his father believed, had been unaware of their conversations, simply mocked Kay. He mocked him by behaving like a child whom he wasn’t already.
“We’ll make friends” said Kay emptying the bottle.