Without Rhythm (The Lament) Read Online Free Page B

too, even if it was an honorary title until they finished their education. She was just her now and that meant what she'd done, claiming to be a Guardian was fraud, not acting.
    "What time is it?" She asked casually, her voice soft, as if pretending she hadn't heard the question.
    Without looking at a watch Clark answered, eyes going up.
    "About eleven, maybe eleven-fifteen."
    "Oh, well, I'm fifteen then. That's about to change. An hour." Hopefully they'd take that into account when they sentenced her? Probably not. There was little use arguing time of birth, since she didn't even really know if it was her birthday at all. It was just the time of the first day she'd been at school. October seventh. She didn't explain that, just in case being a day before adulthood meant something to the Judge.
    "And what better way to spend that than taking the first watch?" Clark sighed though and shook his head sadly.
    "Except that everyone should get their birthday off, so I suppose Mara and I will have to get short shrift on sleep again. At least there are two of us on this tour. The last one was near murder. Had to lock the Judge in her room and sleep in the hall in front of her door. People kept stepping on me. You remember that Paul?"
    "I do indeed." The driver flicked the reigns and pointed forward.
    "Looks like Bard Benjamin is out with his guitar. You're in for a treat Pran, he's good. Just a journeyman, but he already has offers for Master's positions in half a dozen towns. Have you ever gotten to hear a real Bard before?"
    She sighed. Of course a Judge would travel with a Bard. It was a good position to get if you could, because it was like being on tour, without the cost or personal risk. No one messed with a Judge after all, because of her Guardians. It wasn't like they were just town guards that someone slapped a necklace of office on and it was called good. They were legendary. Nearly superhuman. The one in the back certainly looked the part, didn't he?
    Not that she'd seen much when they were capturing the rapist, except... she had, hadn't she? Who walked around with beam lights and flares like that? Guardians apparently. That level of readiness was a big deal. If she'd had a Kinetic pistol, then maybe the woman wouldn't have been raped at all. It wasn't a good thought and couldn't fix anything, so she made herself let it go. If she'd had a dozen Guardians with her that would have worked too. Or even a few large drunken men from the tavern. It didn't matter now.
    As they pulled up, near the fire, she heard him. It had been some time, but she remembered the voice. The laugh and the way he'd spend extra time with the younger kids if they were having problems in classes, tutoring them.
    Ben.
    Bard Benjamin now. She recognized the playing, a little weak on the bridge work, because he could never quite get his left pinky to make firm contact with the fret. He wasn't horrible because of it, but everything he played had a slightly high pitched twang to it. At least he wasn't trying to sing. That would have been harder to keep doing as the wagon pulled up. It was considered very rude to interrupt a Bard.
    Instead he stood, serenading them with a gentle smile on his young face, lit only by the flames of the small fire in its metal safety pit. He didn't seem to notice her at all at first, which was fine. He was two years older than she was, but after that kiss... She'd thought about him sometimes, even knowing that he hadn't been interested in her. She was too young after all, and besides, he'd been waiting for someone else, not her.
    She'd never asked who. It wasn't any of her business.
    For one thing, they hadn't been friends exactly. They'd gone to the same school and it wasn't huge, which meant they'd shared some classes, but that was all. If they'd spoken a hundred words over five years to each other, Pran would have been surprised.
    For his part he timed the song pretty well, ending it just after the wagon stopped