Free Boots by Angel Martinez Page A

the step beside Kasha, opening a tin of canned ham. "What were you humming?"
    "An old song. Before your time, dear boy."
    "Uh-huh. Old like Greensleeves old? Or just Stardust Memories old?" Willem nudged him with his elbow. "I know a lot of old songs. It's not like music has an expiration date."
    Kasha glanced at him sideways, and then recited rather than subjecting Willem to his singing voice. Several previous masters had begged him not to sing. "I'll wait in this place where the sun never shines... "
    "Wait in this place, where the shadows run from themselves," Willem finished softly. "See, I know it. Still not feeling too great?"
    He butted his head against Willem's arm. "It's much better." You make it better. "Just overtired."
    Willem offered him bits of ham from his fingers while they watched the sun melt into the trees. "You need regular meals and a nice place to sleep. Time I swallowed my damn pride and got a job. Even minimum wage would get us a little room with heat and hot water."
    "I'm comfortable here, Willem."
    "This was the perfect place to be for a couple days to get my head on straight. But we can't be up here when the snows start." He pulled Kasha into his lap. "Not to mention the money's going to run out, and the food."
    "I'll hunt for you."
    A soft laugh rumbled in Willem's chest. "I bet you would. Thing is, I need more than meat. So do you. Maybe I get a job I hate, so what? People do it all the time. It's just work, just to survive."
    A hard hand squeezed around Kasha's heart to hear him say so. If Willem had been alone, he might not be so willing to make the sacrifice. His lord wanted to do this for him.
    My heki-sama will not be someone's stock boy. The angry thought brought a growl up, which he managed to hide under a sneeze. "Give me a day or two before you do that. Just a little more time, and if your fortunes haven't changed by sundown two days from now, I'll gladly go back into town with you."
    "All right. Couple days won't hurt." Willem sighed. "Guess I'll have to go begging to Gun short-term after all, just so we don't have to sleep in a doorway." He stroked Kasha's back. "Please tell me you're not planning anything illegal, or anything that'll hurt someone else."
    "I've made you a promise. I intend to keep it. No magic used for harm."
    "Um, okay. But there's lots of harm done without magic all the time."
    Kasha leaned his head against Willem's chest. "I know that. Better than you think. No humans or animals will be harmed in the process of my machinations."
    Willem tapped a finger on his nose. "That includes you. I don't want you hurt, either." He hesitated a long moment, though Kasha felt his need to say more. Finally, he went on softly, "Kash? What did you do to get banished? Was it something really bad?"
    No other master had ever asked him that, and he had never volunteered the information. Minamoto no Yoritomo had known, had guessed the truth, but then the shogun had been unusually skilled at reading motives, and he had understood the nature of kashas.
    Trust, it seemed such a simple thing. He had loved a half handful of his lords, but had never been able to peel back that last layer of trust. Willem, he had watched grow up. He knew his heart, an unfailingly good heart, despite his sometimes-prickly temper. Did he trust Willem? Dear gods, yes, more than he trusted himself.
    "It was three really bad things, if you must know." Kasha snuggled closer, wanting more warmth now that he had made the decision to lay bare his past. "I was a particular kind of demon and had a specific job. A sacred trust."
    "Yeah? What kind of job?"
    "I guided souls. Many people are able to find their own way when they die. Some have difficulty. It was my job to be on hand for the ones who needed help. Not that there were ever enough of my kind to guide every lost spirit, which is why there are ghosts--"
    "You're kidding, right?"
    "No. I tease about a lot of things. Not that."
    Willem shivered and rose with Kasha in his