Page 96 of Sky Song
“And kill?” Cricket asked forlornly. “Do you know how to kill?”
Lyle shrugged. “I killed my first man at thirteen.” He touched his lip scar. “He was older than me, a young man, and he wanted the animal I brought back from the hunt. That was the excuse.”
“And the reason?”
“I was a cocky runt and I was sleeping with one of his women on the side.”
Cricket blinked. That answered secret questions she had about the depth of Lyle’s experience with women. She had suspected he wasn’t a virgin judging by how expertly he read her body, but it was a little more than she had expected. “At thirteen?”
He looked so damn innocent. “That’s right when we hit a growth spurt, so that’s normal.”
“Normal.”
“You’ve been warned not to ask questions,” he reminded her.
“That’s right. So, he was the one to give you this scar?”
“He came from a raid all juiced up and he had this big gleaming hatchet on him. He chased me around with it until he cornered me, and I had no choice but grab a metal rod and fight back. He caught me in the face, and I honestly don’t remember much after that. We fought until we both couldn't fight anymore. We fell down together, bleeding out. He died and I didn’t.”
“What happened after?”
“I remember one of the henchmen finding us and dragging me on the ground all the way to my father’s quarters. My father was angry - the guy I killed was his son, his rising star.”
“Wait. Your father’s son? As in, your brother?”
Lyle took her hand, entwining his three remaining fingers with hers. “My father had many wives. He had over fifty sons and who knows how many daughters.” He touched his throat where the indigo tattoos pulsed gently with each beat of his hearts. “The guywasone of my brothers. He knew it, too, when he tried to hack my face off.”
“A brother. Over a woman?”
“She might have been our sister. I doubt she knew or cared.”
Cricket recoiled. “Lyle, that’s beyond disgusting.”
“The Commons’ women slept with males that fed them. It was a wild world, and free. No rules. Don’t your people like freedom? Isn’t it their ultimate goal?”
Cricket shook her head at his challenging words. “My people believe in civilization.”
“Civilization means a bunch of rules.”
“Yes. Because we don’t want to fight our brothers with a cleaver over a hunk of meat and a female.”
“Wimps.” He smiled crookedly showing those dark canines.
Cricket wasn’t amused. “And your father? Did he forgive you?”
“There was nothing to forgive. He waited to see how well I recovered from the injuries, and when I did, he put me in training to replace the trooper I killed. After I did well in training, he put me in circulation. He was my commander, and I obeyed his orders. Simple as that.”
What she learned left a sour taste in Cricket’s mouth. She wasn’t sure what she would have done if Lyle had reached out and tried to kiss her, but he didn’t. Instead, he pulled out the little chip that Ren gave him.
“Enough with my life story. Let’s look at the files.”
Cricket wanted to know more about him, but not at this moment. “I’m afraid there is nothing interesting in the files, either. We’ve wasted the money.”
“We won’t know until we look. I need you. I can’t read your language.”
“If you want. Let’s look.”
Tired and without enthusiasm, she took the chip from him and plugged it into her basic home computer system. The files opened, six innocuous folders neatly labeled and logically arranged.
