Meldis did not ask Pharazbalak what he had done with the body.
Pharazbalak was astonished by her demeanor. She was not even shaken. Tough old woman had shot the intruder with a crossbow like it was nothing. She was just as tough as the other man, her nephew or whatever he was.
Lady Meldis carried a satchel and a wooden case with a bundle of parchments inside.
”We finally leave?” Pharazbalak asked.
”Yes. I did not believe things would get to this point.”
”We should of gone before this happen.”
”Deli brought it upon us – by coming here.”
”My lady wrote him a letter.”
”I did not want him to involve me in his business. I specifically told him so in the letter.”
Pharazbalak said nothing. She was pushing him about again, as was her habit whenever she chose to remember things differently. When they had first met, he had thought her mad – merely old and wandering. But in time he had learned to see through her, to see straight through those grey eyes. He saw that Meldis knew well what had happened and how much others believed her tales. She only wished to sway folk – or herself – trying new versions to see whether she could make them believe… or make herself believe.
”Where we going?”
”It does not matter”, Meldis said casually, as if it truly meant nothing to her. ”I suppose we have to wait until dawn.”
”We can no ride in the dark.”
”I suppose we shall find a place”, Meldis said. ”Then I will write to Lord Nodron to sell my house here. I have all the papers with me.”
Pharazbalak waited, as though he had only now taken in the beginning of Meldis’ words.
”You have been well provided for, Pharazbalak”, Meldis said, glancing sharply at the Southron. ”I have arranged your pardon. You need not serve me any longer. If you wish to leave, I can grant you a generous manumission. But if you choose to stay, I will name you among the heirs of my will.”
Pharazbalak stared at Meldis blankly for a while. Then he said:
”I have no place to go. And I’m no young anymore. Waiting to be hanged makes man old quickly.”
”Alright”, Meldis said. ”We leave in the morning then.”
”They not necessary come back”, Pharazbalak said. ”My lady could wait.”
”I cannot. I have killed a man in this house.”
”He meant to kill my lady.”
”But I killed him first.” Meldis stared through Pharazbalak. ”This is what Deli has brought upon me. Deli has turned me into a killer.”
”When he come back…”
”He will not be coming back. They… they are after him. And they will find him and they will kill him. I knew it when I looked at him, before he left, before…”
Meldis blinked her eyes. Her eyes were wet. She frowned and turned her back at Pharazbalak. Be that as it may, she would not cry in front of him. Tough old lady.
