Chapter 28. A Reformed Scumbag Takes the Stage in Borrowed Clothes

Chapter 28: 28. A Reformed Scumbag Takes the Stage in Borrowed Clothes

Magnara found me in the stone house about an hour later, and she had to duck to get through the doorway. She sat on the floor because none of the furniture would have survived her, and she folded her arms across her chest.

"The people of Elarune want to hear you speak," she said without preamble.

"Huh...?" I stared at her. "Speak...? About what...?"

"That’s not a good idea, you know!"

"About yourself... About why they should not tear you apart." She shrugged one massive shoulder. "The council did not approve it, but Ysolde has agreed to allow it as an unofficial test."

"If you say nothing, they will assume you are a coward..."

"And if you lie, they will smell it..."

"But... If you speak the truth, they may or may not listen."

"What happens if they don’t?"

"Then they will throw more than stones... magic."

"That’s even worse!" I rubbed my face. "Arrgghh... Great."

’This is perfect... I haven’t prepared anything. "I start to walk in a circle. "I didn’t even bring a PowerPoint to present something really good about me."

"I do not know what that is."

"It’s good! You’re lucky..."

Magnara studied me for a moment with her burning amber eyes. "Do you know what you will say?"

I thought about it. I didn’t have a speech... of course I didn’t have a plan as well, and I certainly didn’t have anything clever.

This is... such a sudden thing to do. Giving a speech to hundreds of predators that could kill me as the prey.

But wait...

I had one skill left, and it wasn’t charm or swordsmanship or even basic common sense.

"Alright, I’ll tell them the truth again," I said. "It’s the only thing I’ve got."

"That," Magnara said, standing up, "is the worst plan I have ever heard."

"It may also be the only one that works... even if you have to repeat yourself again like in front of the gate."

...

They set up the speech at dusk, in the main square in front of the Red Gate. I’d expected a platform, or at least a barrel.

What I got was a flat stone in the middle of the plaza and about two thousand beastwomen standing around it in the cold blue light.

Some had come out of curiosity.

Some had come because they hated me and wanted to watch me fail.

Others stood at the back with their arms crossed, their faces blank and unforgiving.

I could see the wolf mother near the front, the bullhorned woman with her scarred hand, and a number of faces I’d come to recognize from that terrible morning.

I walked out slowly with Millie’s arm around my waist, because my knees were not entirely reliable. And of course... I didn’t have a sword.

I didn’t have any decent clothes either. I was wearing a borrowed beastwoman shirt, my side was bandaged under it, and I was fairly sure I looked like something the cat had dragged in and then thought better of.

I climbed up onto the stone and swayed there for a second, looking out at all those faces.

’Okay,’ I thought. ’Don’t throw up... and don’t even pass out.’

’But... please, for the love of God, don’t say anything stupid...!’

"Uh... Hi," I said, and it’s not the usual ’Yo! ’I always say.

My voice cracked. A few people shifted uneasily.

"My name’s Leon... Leon the human, yeah... Hopefully you’ve noticed." A very faint, scattered mutter ran through the crowd. "I’m not a hero...! I want to be clear about that right away!"

"Not very long ago, I was climbing out of a bathroom window with my pants in my hand... running away from a woman’s brother."

The muttering stopped.

The silence was so complete that I could hear a bird somewhere on the wall.

"I was a piece of shit," I said. "I’m just saying it up front, so none of you can accuse me of hiding it."

"I treated people... people of mine, you know, humans... like objects."

"I thought the whole world was a place for me to take what I wanted, but now..."

"I’m not that person anymore, or at least I’m trying not to be... but I’m not going to stand here and pretend I was always good." I looked at them. "But turns out... I wasn’t."

Somebody laughed, a sharp, disbelieving bark. I didn’t blame them.

"I’m not asking you to trust me," I continued. "I know that you can’t... especially for a lowly human like me."

"You see... Trust isn’t something you ask for, but... it’s something you pay for slowly, with interest."

"You’re allowed to hate me, yes! Some of you probably should!"

"I’m a human after all... and humans did terrible things to you... all of you! And I’m not going to ask you to forget about that!"

I took a breath. My side was throbbing.

"But... I’m going to tell you something else! And I need you to know that it’s the truth!" I smiled widely to them. "I think... beastwomen are the best people in this entire world!"

A stunned silence. Someone in the back actually gasped.

"I know how that sounds," I said, raising my good hand. "I know it’s weird..."

"And honestly, I’m aware that it’s a little creepy."

"I’m a very strange human, okay? But I’ve been in this world for four days, and in those four days, a wolf who barely knew me let me bandage her wounds, a minotaur broke an entire guard unit to save a bunch of strangers, and a rabbit who’d been kicked around her whole life walked back down a hill to help someone who couldn’t walk!"

"If that isn’t the best of anybody, I don’t know what is!"

I could see Millie from the corner of my eye, standing with her hands knotted in front of her, shaking.

"And nobody...!" I said, and my voice suddenly dropped. "I said again... nobody has the right to own or claim you!"

I let that sit.

"I saw what’s happening in Frosthaven!"

"I saw a cage in a market, and a warehouse by a quarry!"

"I saw a woman get yanked to her knees... on frozen ground because she couldn’t walk fast enough!" My throat was tight, and I forced myself to keep going. "And I saw Millie!"

"Do you know what she said to me, the first time we met?!"

"She told me not to argue with her owner because she didn’t want me to get hurt!"

Somebody in the crowd made a small, choked sound.

"Who teaches a person to say that?!"

"Who makes a person so used to being hurt that her first instinct is to protect a stranger from the same thing?!"

I looked at the wolf mother, who had covered her mouth with one hand. I looked at the bull-horned women, whose jaw was working.

I looked at all of them, and I said what I had to say.

"I killed a human in Frosthaven! A slaver!" I clenched my fists in front of me. "I did it because he was about to hurt her, and I’m not going to stand here and tell you that I’m sorry!"

"I’m not...! But I’m also not going to tell you it was easy or that I’m proud of it, because I’m not as well!"

"I just want you to know that I understand what I did!"

I paused.

The silence stretched out thin.

"So here’s what I’m going to say... I swear that I will hunt down every human who owns, sells, or hurts a beastwoman for profit!!!"

"Every single one of them...! Not all humans, but just the ones who do that!" I stomped the ground. "There’s a difference, and I’m going to make sure everyone understands it!"

My legs were starting to shake. I lowered my voice.

"I’m not asking for a place in Elarune... and I’m not asking you to like me!"

"All I’m asking for is the chance to fight at the front! In front of you, not behind you!"

"You don’t have to follow me because... I’ll be the idiot standing in front to protect all of you!"

Silence.

Then, from somewhere near the back, a cracked old voice spoke up.

"Well, I’ll be damned," Marrow said, in the dry tone of a woman who has seen too much. "In ninety years, I’ve never heard a human call himself a piece of shit."

A ripple of low, uncertain laughter went through the crowd.

It wasn’t acceptance. I want to be clear about that, because I know how it might look.

It wasn’t a triumphant cheer or a sudden change of heart. A few people spat on the ground and walked away.

Some turned their backs.

A woman near the edge pulled her child close and glared at me with such naked loathing that I felt it in my bones.

But the silence had changed.

It wasn’t a hungry silence anymore... It was thoughtful and tired and a little sad, like a room where everyone has been talking too long and has suddenly run out of things to say.

And then my knees gave out.

I felt myself sway, and the world tilted, and before I could hit the stone, small arms wrapped around my waist and held on.

Millie was pressed against my side, her feet braced and her shoulder tucked under my arm, taking my weight like she’d been doing it all her life. I saw a thousand faces watching her do it.

Ysolde dismissed the crowd with a few clipped orders, and the guards escorted us back to the stone house through the dark streets.

Nobody threw anything.

A few people stared, and a few people whispered, but the mood had shifted into something uncertain and brittle, like ice on a lake in early spring.

"That was extremely foolish, but..." Ysolde said, matching her pace to ours. "The council will be very interested."

"Is that good...?"

"I have not decided."