Eros

Hail to the King - 8

Some of the ale that splashed into the air with the mug's impact wet Alora's face. She squatted down and reached for the fallen key behind the bars.

"Owhhh...-fuck..." Kaido murmured, pressing his palm to the bleeding cut across his forehead. As the world spun around him, he managed to sit up, but couldn't fix his blurred vision on the elf.

Alora unlocked her cell and drew a concealed hunting knife from her boot. She lunged at Kaido, pulled his head back by his hair, and plastered her blade across his exposed throat.

"You're so fucking stupid," She scowled. "You burnt my home, slaughtered my people, dragged me in chains, and then thought you'll get to fuck me?"

"What..." Kaido groaned, only realizing she escaped when steel kissed his skin. "Listen I-..."

"Shut up." She pressed the blade harder, and blood drew beneath it, trickling down Kaido's throat. "Get up."

Guided by the knife, he rose.

"Now you're gonna' come with me, and I will make your superiors free the rest of my people or I will cut your throat open." She hissed into his ear. He was a bit taller than her, but she kept his posture bent back with the pressure of her blade.

"That sounds like a great plan, there's just that one minor detail-"

Alora cut him short with a poke of the blade against his windpipe.

"I said shut up. No moving and no speaking." She shoved him on. They crossed the cell-corridor and reached the dining hall. It was quiet; there was nobody there but three chatting armored men. One noticed them, and before Alora said a word, the three stood up and unsheathed their swords.

"Drop the weapons." She commanded, lifting Kaido's chin with her blade. They hesitated.

"You will drop your weapons and free the rest of the elves you captured, or you will have gallons of your comrade's blood to clean from the floor." Her voice sounded calm, and at the same time, as if it were about to break into a fit of yelling. They inspected Kaido and he offered them an awkward smile.

"Captain?" One of the soldiers glanced questioningly to another, whose square jaw was cushioned by a thick, gray beard.

"Not only is he not one of my men, I am quite certain I have seen his face spread on numerous wanted posters."

"What the fuck?" Alora muttered into Kaido's ear. She was genuinely furious with her hostage.

"If you had just let me speak earlier, we could have avoided this unpleasant situation." He said.

"Seize them." The captain approached them, his two men before him. Alora sent out her senses and searched for any form of nature to control.

"Damn it!" She cursed, finding nothing. The soldiers closed in on her, leaving nowhere to run.

She released Kaido and skipped towards the nearest soldier, baiting his sword swing. It was faster than expected, but she dodged it with an agile twist of her body and jabbed to his neck. The soldier bashed her hand away with his gauntlet and planted his plated knee in her gut. She stumbled back, her breath forced out of her.

Fear crept into her in the shade of the pain. She was quick to realize a real fight was nothing like the spars between elves of the tribe. She dodged another swing with a step back, but this time, found no opening to attack. The soldier abused the long reach of his sword over her hunting knife, forcing her to remain on the defense.

She was surprised to see her former hostage step head on into the swing of the other soldier. He seized the soldier's arm before the sword could touch him, and slammed an elbow into his nose.

The soldier retreated with a grunt, but Kaido was upon him too soon. He pushed him out of balance with a hand to his face, and swept his feet off the floor with a kick. His armored body turned horizontal in the air, crashing into the cobblestones.

Alora dodged a cut that almost took off her ear, and stabbed at the soldier's outstretched sword arm. Her knife pierced in the chain-mail joint of his elbow, and into his flesh. He groaned. Blood dripped to the floor at his feet as he cleared the way for his captain.

Alora didn't get a second to relish her small victory. She barely got to remove her neck from the arc of the captain's sword in time. He was stern and focused, his stance solid and his blade light.

He moved towards her, and just as she tensed in preparation for his attack a hard punch slammed into the side of his skull. The captain staggered after his tossed head, and Kaido stepped before her instead. Draped by the black strands of his hair, his features rested in a nonchalant expression, as if he was entirely aloof to the life-threatening situation at hand.

"Run." The mixture of calmness and firmness at his voice granted it an undeniable tone of authority.

Run? Can I really? Leave the survivors of my village imprisoned to save my own skin? Freeing the other elves did seem impossible. She might not even want to admit it to herself, but that didn't compel her to obey him as much as her will to live did. Her hesitation kept her frozen in place.

The captain had regained balance, turned, and rushed. Kaido moved back, and the point of the captain's blade nipped a long gash across his cheek, scattering beads of blood in the air.

She first noticed Kaido had a sword sheathed at his hip when his hand hovered over its hilt. Why won't he use it?

"What the fuck are you waiting for? Get a move on." He yelled at her as he backpedaled towards an exit, keeping both the captain and the straightening soldier in his sight. Just as Alora realized one of the three was gone, the alarm bells sounded.

Both she and Kaido ran for the exit. One soldier's sword left a scratch across Kaido's breastplate as he slipped past his side. Alora was a step behind him. The soldiers were a step behind her.

She blinked in confusion when she saw Kaido halt and turn to clutch the rim of a table. Faster than she could think, he flipped it towards the soldiers. The captain stepped back in time, but the other soldier smashed head first into the hardwood. It seemed anything but pleasant.

When Alora looked to Kaido again, one of the chairs was already in his hands. He swung it from the floor, took a broad step, and hurled it with all his might.

As much as this surprised Alora, she wasn't nearly as surprised as the captain as the chair crashed against him. The impact threw him to the floor along with broken pieces of wood.

"Come on." Kaido grabbed Alora's arm, and the two ran.