Free Death Comes To All (Book 1) by Travis Kerr Page A

and
handed it over to Drom.
    Drom
looked down at the uniform and realized a problem. "These
clothes are made to fit you," he said. "There's no way
they're going to fit me."
    "It's
nothing to worry about. That uniform was always a little loose on me.
The man I took it from was closer to your size, though not quite as
tall I think. It should fit your frame just fine. It might be a
little short in the legs, but I doubt that it will be all that
noticeable. Just tuck the bottoms into your boots and you shouldn’t
have a problem with it."
    He
found that Malik was exactly right. They were perhaps an inch or so
too short at the ankles, and higher on the wrist than he would have
liked, but they fit him all right otherwise. He stretched this way
and that, getting used to the unfamiliar clothing.
    "That
should work for you until we reach our destination," Malik said
to him. "Once there we can have a few sets of clothing made for
you, should you decide to stay with us a little bit longer. Right now
you're helping me. Just by being here you're adding to my disguise,
and that's worth something to me. So in addition to teaching you how
to handle yourself, both with a weapon and without one, I'll pay you
fifty gold pieces for your time. That's from here to our destination,
which should take us about a month to reach. It's a little less than
a well-trained guard would make working for a merchant like the one
I'm posing as, but it will be enough to get you clothing and a good
blade, with a bit left over to hold you if you decide to go your own
way from there. If you decide to stay with us longer, we'll talk
about payment again. Is it a deal?"
    It
was far more than Drom had ever thought he would earn in a month of
work, and he hadn't expected to get paid for traveling with these two
at all. He thought they were doing him a favor, not the other way
around. Malik was going to train him to fight, something that he was
already certain he would need to learn if he hoped to live in one of
the cities. That alone was worth more than any benefit he could be
bringing them. Now Malik was offering to pay him on top of everything
else he was doing. It was all too much, and once he had recovered
from the shock of the offer he said as much.
    "Well
I can't have you wearing my clothes forever," Malik responded in
his usual, jovial manner. "Besides, like I already told you, a
regular guard would be making more than that. Were you one of the
Thane, which is what you're dressed as, you would be making four or
five times that. So really you're being underpaid. I'm taking
horrible advantage of you."
    "We
both know that I'm not a real guard," Drom said. "This
sword at my hip isn't even mine, it's yours. If we got into a fight I
wouldn't even know how to use it. I don't seem to be of much use, so
I don't know why you're paying me. It’s not that I don’t
appreciate the thought, really I do. It’s just that it seems to
me that you’re helping me, not the other way around. Really I
should probably be paying you."
    "Look
Drom, we'll reach the client in about a month, like I said. Until
then, you’ll be adding to my disguise, which, as I said, is of
use to me. Teaching you how to fight might also be of use to me, in
the unlikely event that we get into one and I can’t fight to my
full ability for some reason. So I’m paying you for your time,
and that’s all there is to it.
    “Between
now and the moment we reach our destination, you'll be learning
everything you need to know about combat. I don't mean to sound
overconfident, but I think I will make a rather good teacher. I
haven't lost a fight since I was younger than you, and I don't have
anything close your strength. With the right training, who knows how
good you could become. Just accept what I'm offering and we'll take
it from there."
    There’s
nothing else for me to say , he realized. Tara was impatient to
go. She had been standing at the edge of the campsite for nearly ten
minutes, her pack already set on