Read Online Deadly Wands by Brent Reilly - Free Book Online

forgiveness or
permission.”
    “Let’s settle this in private,” William
suggested.
    "Will you return tomorrow?" the arena manager
gently asked during the awkward silence.
    "I can use an abacus faster than you. Three
days ago you agreed to pay me 5% of admission and concession sales,
but I have yet to see that reflected in my totals. Will this
problem be corrected by dawn?"
    William taught Billy about business, but had
no idea the kid paid so much attention. The manager sure looked
nervous, before nodding his head in agreement.
    "Then I’ll be back tomorrow," he promised,
walking out, forcing his parents to follow him like puppies.
    Once they returned to his hotel, and past the
bodyguards he hired, his mother broke down and cried in his
bed.
    "We need to talk," his father told him.
    "What’s there to talk about? You trained me
to kill Mongols, I’m collecting the world’s most powerful wands,
and I’m giving literally tons of gold to Free Europe. I don't think
I should be punished for doing what you raised me to do."
    "What we want most is for you to live until
you have children."
    "I’ll never be safe, so I need to do as much
as possible, as fast as possible. I’m the world’s best dueler. You
once told me the most important thing you ever did was figure out
how to live life on your own terms. That’s what I’m doing.”
    “Doesn’t killing people bother you?” his
mother unjustly demanded.
    Billy didn’t change his position, but he
seemed to grow up as he stared his mother down. “You told me people
are either fighters or victims, and that you wanted me to become
the greatest fighter ever. Someone so terrible he scared even
Genghis Khan. I may be eight, but I’m a warrior, and I have the
scars and body count to prove it. And this is what warriors do. We
kill. I’m not murdering innocents. I’m killing the world’s biggest
killers. No one makes them enter the arena; they’re all volunteers.
Trying to make your own son feel guilty for doing what you trained
him to do is beneath you, mother. When I put your father on the
English throne that he lost because of you, I’ll expect an
apology.”
    As William closed his eyes, Billy’s voice
sounded just like his own father’s.
    “Mongols started this war. One hundred
million civilians have already died, and a million more die every
year from starvation, disease, or homelessness. Every Mongol
millennial that I kill saves a thousand innocents. The Empire
employs the world’s best super-quads, who’ll assassinate me when
they discover my true ability. Who will stop them? You?” Billy
laughed harshly. “Really, mom. Grow up. We’re surrounded by death.
Enemies wanted to snuff me out literally from the moment of my
birth, so I don’t understand why you don’t want me to kill those
who want me dead. All I’m doing is practicing pre-emptive
self-defense.”
    It was a good speech. He clearly spent some
time on it. Liz stopped crying as soon as Billy left the room.
    "Well crying doesn't work, anymore," she
concluded, disappointed. "Guilt, shame, threats. What can we
do?"
    "He won. He beat us at our own game. He's
been thinking of this ever since he killed the Third Millennial. He
won’t back down, even if we threaten to leave him. Besides, he
needs us. We need to ensure his personal security and manage the
money. And we need a lot more of your family for protection and
coin transfer. How long will it be before his own bodyguards kill
him in his sleep?”
    "He's just a child."
    William gave her a tired smile. "But we never
treated him like a child. We were so scared of failure that we
never thought to fear success."
    "Billy will die in the arena."
    William disagreed. "He’s more likely to die
of poison. Plus, removing twenty thousand of their best quads a
year will cripple the Empire. Billy could be the key to ending this
world war. And all he has to do is win duels in the arena, which is
much safer than in battle when anyone can shoot him in