Page 11 of Brutal Knight

“Knight,” I said dutifully.

“Knight?” Finally gaining some courage, she looked at me. Her eyes, a freakish blue color, caught mine, and she gave me a funny look.

“Yeah, that’s it.” My eyebrows furrowed. “Is there something wrong with that?”What kind of name was Tatiana anyways?

“Knight,” Lita warned, “manners.”

“But she was rude first!“ I tried to tell Lita that the girl had looked at me funny, but, at the stern look Abuelo gave me, I gulped down my words, mumbling out an apology instead. “Sorry.”

When I looked back at Tatiana, her face was bright red. She didn't even answer me back, but stared at the floor again, clutching the hat to her head tight.What a weirdo.

“Knight comes here every summer to work for thefamilia,” Lita began to explain, and I quickly lost interest in listening, used to people talking about me like I wasn’t even in the room.

I lived in the United States with my parents, where my father worked for the Vegas camorra. They sent me here to work for my grandpa, or, as they liked to tell everyone: to ‘educate me in the old ways’ and to ‘prepare me for my future.’ Really, my mom just didn’t like me in her hair when I was home for the summer, so basically, I was a slave to whatever my grandpa wanted me to do.

"Knight, why don't you take Tatiana outside?” Abuelo said.See? A slave.“Show her around, while we speak to her parents.”

Abuelo was a big man on the island, almost equal to the Capitan of thetropas de choque, because the Capitan had put him in charge of a bunch of businesses. If anyone wanted to work in the city, they had to meet my grandpa first.

Lita pulled Tatiana into a side hug, asking in a gentle voice, “Would you like that?”

Tatiana looked at her parents for permission but they were too busy staring at the statues and artwork. Sensing the chance to get out of my chores early, I asked eagerly. "Want me to show you the docks?"

"The docks?" The girl looked confused.

"Yeah, most of the fishermen are already gone but I bet old Ciego hasn't left yet. He takes forever to get his boat out." Leaning in, I whispered under my breath, "Man's blind as a bat. I'm surprised he doesn't get lost out there. They say his dead wife shows him the way."

"Knight!" The sharp tone of Lita's voice, usually soft and kind, made my shoulders haunch up to my ears.

"Sorry, Lita!" Grabbing the girl's hand, I pulled her out the front door, past the other guard standing there, and through our courtyard, explaining, “Lita doesn't like it when I gossip. Says a boy of my position should always be polite and respectful to the community."

I didn’t tell her that my Lita shouldn't be tellingmethat, but Abuelo. He didn't respect the community, like, at all. I'd seen him kill a man in front of his own kid, and the man had been on his knees, begging for his life.

"Come on.” I pulled Tatiana up to our front gate, where there were more guards and a handful of workers carrying in large crates filled with fish. “Hey,” I shouted at the men, “those go through the other way,” I pointed towards the path that led beside our property and towards the back gate.

“Si, señor.” The man out front bent his face down respectfully, then ordered his men back.

“Gross,” Tatiana held her nose as they passed back by. “They stink. Why are they bringing those to your house?”

“If I told you that, I’d have to kill you.” I flashed her a grin, and she scowled at me. The fish were how Abuelo smuggled in jewels and cash from Mexico and Guatemala, but I wasn’t supposed to tell strangers that.

When I didn’t explain, she looked expectantly towards the front gate but I didn’t leave, making sure the workers passed back through the front gate and towards the side path. Abuelo would be mad at the men if they brought the smelly boxes through the front.

When they were out of sight, I led her through the front gate, ignoring the uniformed guards who nodded at me respectfully, and stepped into the muddy street. I pointed past the row of fifteenth century mansion homes and towards the clear blue sea beyond. “I bet I can beat you to the docks.” I was the quickest boy in my school and I wanted to show Tatiana how fast I could run.

Her eyes flashed. "Bet you can't!" She took off.

“Hey!” She didn't even wait for me to say ‘start’.

With one hand holding Abuelo’s hat to her head, her thick, glossy black pigtails flew in the wind behind her, the red ribbons fluttering.

I stared at her in awe, surprised, then knit my eyebrows in a furrow as I ran after her. "Hey, I said! That's cheating!" I pumped my arms fast, trying to catch up to her. By the time I reached the wooden dock, she was waiting for me, breathing heavily. Her hands were on her hips and she had a stupid smirk on her face.

"You cheated!" I paused to fling off my flip flops then raced past her.

"Did not!" She cried indignantly, and footsteps pounded after me.

I focused on the edge of the dock, determined she wouldn't beat me this time. I had to be careful not to trip; the wood was old and could break.

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